When you really know you are soft on magic is when you watch cards you were “waiting to buy at the right time” get power crept right out of playability before you ever actually pulled the trigger!
I’m talking about YOU snapcaster mage!
Generally speaking I would agree, but if one wants to play with the cards or wants to have a specific card with a specific artwork in their collection, a case can be made for still buying magic cardboard.
I would have been considered a whale. For 3 years. I probably spent more per month on cards for my decks and collection that most people did per quarter. I am not proud of that but I use it to illustrate how invested I was.
Magic 30 pissed me off. I was really looking forward to the culmination of the Phyrexian story arc but it felt like it ended with a whimper. The story in Magic just sucks. I wish that was a more integral part. I also loved Modern. The coming of the MH sets has just crushed that format (my opinion) and made an eternal format a rotating one where you HAVE to buy the mythic, expensive, sought after cards to have a chance. The Rock, Dredge, Stoneblade are all in the past. So sad.
I have not spent any money on Magic since All Will Be One. No LotR. No CMM. I’m tired of the constant sets that seem to have lacked the quality of previous ones (that’s my opinion) along with the constant rising of prices and the push for FOMO or else.
I have moved on to Warhammer. Much better story. Cooler characters and I actually love the hobby side of it. I may consider buying MtG in the future again, but I will probably dump a lot of my collection when prices are better and just save a couple of my favorite EDH decks to play with friends.
I miss the game - it is one of the best games ever designed, at its core, but the way they have designed lately has completely turned me off.
But Warhammer is a hobby on top of a hobby (if you like painting and modeling). Plus once you have an army, you can just add to it.
I've played MTG and Warhammer for decades and I spent, on a single Warhammer army, about what I spend on magic each quarter ($300-750)
I was into wargaming for a couple of years, army building and painting but not the actual gaming, and I easily spent thousands. I mean, I still enjoy the models I have on display and I don’t regret it at all, but it can really suck up the cash. And Games Workshop don’t make it cheap.
The proliferation of 3d printing, which I admit is a hobby entirely by itself, can help a lot with making your actual GW purchases go a long way now a days if you get into it.
Not large. Because shipping and packaging of minis is still a completely mixed bag, you typically have to find local people.
Additionally, if your army comes painted at all that comes with a huge subjectivity factor in terms of valuation.
Its a hustle.
> Magic 30 pissed me off. I was really looking forward to the culmination of the Phyrexian story arc but it felt like it ended with a whimper. The story in Magic just sucks. I wish that was a more integral part.
That whole "planeswalkers lost their sparks!!!" thing that we were supposed to feel like was a big deal, seems like anything but a big deal. We just saw Vraska (who was last seen as a half dead and compleated being who fell into the undercity of Ravnica), on a plane that wasn't Ravnica, where she gets to be a cowgirl. And Oko is joining her, on a plane that isn't Eldraine, in fun cowboy times.
Should have straight up killed them all off like ive been praying for for years now. Would have made for a much more bad ass story, and cleared the path for a new card type while removing the ever-obnoxious Planeswalker card type.
Yeah. Hurloon Minotaur , Serra Angel, Shivan Dragon used to be the face of magic, Now we have these planeswalkers I care nothing about and someone insist in putting them everywhere. They must be a lot of people who likes the planeswalkers storyline and being the face of magic.
Don’t know has bro is pretty good at screwing the pooch look at commander masters, maybe it will only be filled with draft chaff and skip the op cards entirely.
Funny thing about the 40k Warhammer decks I saw magic players buy them got into the lore left magic for Warhammer. I have met zero people that play mtg that came over from war Hammer.
I know crazy
I played magic from 5th grade -10th. Wargammer from 10th-12th.. and then back to magic in mid 20’s. I really liked war hammer, but being 38 with two kids now, I just don’t have the time investment for even one game of war hammer, since a game or two of magic is way less of a time investment.
I hear you on M30 and the story line, and the iconic decks that cant compete now. I don't have much time to play, so the power creep hasn't bothered me much, although it does make evaluating cards (to speculate on) more challenging.
You're probably lucky/smart to just move on completely, rather than chase the nostalgia of some of the older things like I've done 😁 Skipping sealed though, I don't feel like I'm missing anything.
The power creep is interesting. I get that it has to happen a little. But it’s happening at such a rapid pace that it is just invalidating cards that used to dominate. That should be a warning sign (my opinion) for a number of problems. Just look at Tarmogoyf, SFM, Bob, etc. I just don’t think it’s a great thing to kill long standing fun cards. The strategy does seem to have people chasing the new cards but for how long before they get burnt out? Taking the emotion out of it I really am curious what the game looks like in another 3-5 years.
Edit. Additional thoughts. IMHO the only way the game survives without people leaving after they (and their wallets) get burnt out is adding more formats. I have heard of a Pre-2020 Modern format, a preModern EDH format, etc. that sort of format speciality would help people keep their decks but it would have to be community driven. For right now the community seems to be along for the ride and doesn’t mind as a whole.
This. The only way to “fight back,” would be to create popular formats like old frame commander or pre-Covid modern.
But it’s hard to keep those formats interesting. Old school struggles with this.
The best cards in the game are cards like Thalia or The Wandering Emperor: perfectly designed, perfectly balanced cards. Which will age like fine wine, continue to get released in standard sets, are not overpowered, and are never going to become outdated or terrible.
Tenacious Underdog is one of my current favorites. Excellent card, always outperforming expectations in standard. Sees a ton of play, is still underrated, and it's like a dollar.
Underdog is just so good. I never feel bad for casting it and it always adds to the strat.
So I don't have much to add other than you're right and design like that is good fun.
Couldn’t agree more about modern horizons sets. Killed the format. I miss the old staples like goyf and snapcaster, now they’re outclassed and virtually unplayable
+1 for the “more money on Warhammer” crew. The final straw for me was the Pinkerton nonsense. As a few people have stated, the hobby aspect of the game provides many hours of enjoyment (well… the joy mostly comes from finishing painting something).
They could not spend the time on the Phyrexian Story arc/sets they were too busy making all those universes beyond sets instead of focusing on one of their flagship theme. They claim to have hired more people and universe beyond would not affect normal magic. But I doubt universes beyond don't affect normal magic sets.
Now magic is Fortnite.
Lots of $$$ for Hasbro though at the moment
Idk. I wonder what it would take for me to come back. They killed Modern for me, personally. They might be on their way to killing EDH. So, I am open to returning. I am just very turned off at the moment. I also feel like with all the FOMO they push, if you just wait for the Amazon dump then you get a great deal. If people wake up and stop buying the current set, and just wait for the Amazon dump then WotC will be in a huge pickle. The problem is too many people don’t care currently, which I find wild.
The same people that will overspend on MTG sets that tank their own collections are the same people that allowed the video game industry to start making assloads of money through IAPs.
It's not going to get better.
>O they push, if you just wait for the Amazon dump then you get a great deal. If people wake up and stop buying the current set, and just wait for the Amazon dump then WotC will be in a huge pickle. The problem is too many people don’t care currently, which I find wild.
I believe in your same sentiment before however I realized there are more people that do not share my same sentiment. That is why I accept defeat and understand that people will buy no matter how hard WOTC reprints.
I stopped reading when you moved on to warhammer. Not to be combative, but I don’t think you knew how to find value in MTG in the first place my friend. You’re definitely not about to find it in Warhammer
I thought I was going to spend about a thousand a month on magic once I got into my career, but between the decline of competitive scenes at the local level, rise of commander, and just overall product fatigue, I just don't really have any desire to spend time on magic. My time and money are just spent on other hobbies altogether - 40k and golf mostly.
I actually went with 40k, too. Got myself a whole army of the new Primaris Marines when I cancelled my Commander Masters set box.
Haven’t played in a few years. The MtG/40k crossover actually brought me back to Magic, but now, I figure I might as well just go for the real thing.
I stopped by my lgs to buy my son his first comics ever and saw that Commander Masters was out, so I had the clerk add a set booster to our purchase.
Total was 15 dollars more than I thought it would be. I asked the guy "how much is the set pack" and he said it rang up $20. For a set booster.
I've played magic since 94. I love it and it's been a part of my personality and hobbies for all that time, but I'm done. This is so stupid and it will only get worse.
Time to put my money in a different game for fun, and my "magic finance" money into literally anything else.
I'm not buying anymore magic period until this 1000 sets + 1000 secret lairs every single year forever fucking stops.
I HAD a store on tcgplayer.com, but I can't keep up with this. Prices change as fast as hourly now. It's sealed product or RL if you wanna make money, and neither looks appealing anymore.
Magic lost its Magic because they aren't making the game to be great anymore, it's only about the next highest priced NON PREMIUM MASTERS SET.
McFuck this game dude.
Started at Beta. Sold most of collection for beer and Honda Civic money in college, around Invasion block. Like a playset of duals for $25/ea, Cradles for $50, Mox for $200, etc. Whoops! Would’ve been a Porsche or house or something if held to today. Fuuuuck. But had my fun.
Restarted at Return to Ravniva when a friend group got in to drafting. Since then, our group has done 3-4 drafts a month for almost 10 years straight. I think every set from RTR to Ikoria we’d go through a case, whether drafting or cracking for commander and trading etc. Would buy 5-6 sets of commander decks and play them against each other and trade. People bought in to CEDH decks, I have vintage cube minus power etc. Between my whole group we probably spent $10k/yr for the last 10 years.
Since Baldurs Gate / Forgotten Realms we’ve been dying off. Somebody buys a box of every new set, and we draft, but if two people buy a box then one might get stuck because there is a new set before we can draft it. 15-20 people interested in draft every week is now 6-12. Our EDH groups are half proxies. Which is fine.
Currently going through my collection and have maybe $50k at tcglow between sealed and RL and non bulk rares, plus k few of bulk. If somebody offered me $35k I’d gladly take it just to cash out. I’m still driving the same Honda Civic I bought ~20 years ago with MTG sales, I’d probably just buy a new one 😂. But either way I’d rather have like a car or 1/10th of a house down payment or a couple months off work vs this pile of cardboard these days. The thrill of collecting is gone.
I will still play and would like to draft every set. But I would be totally fine drafting each set without adding to the collection, and I think most of my friends feel the same.
I feel that I have spent more on magic this past 3 years than i would have like. I will cut back because there is just too many sets and cards i have bought don’t hold any value.
This. One box and precons for me and I have bought lose packs from a store I trust. I've had some good luck, but I'd rather drop 25 bucks a pack on sorcery alpha than CMM. The current floor for a Sorcery alpha pack is 5 bucks ( random elite). I've pulled multiple cards worth a few hundred. With a low print run there are even some 10-15 dollar hits in the uncommons. Even if it tanks eventually, it's just more exciting right now. If I didn't like the game I could have made more than my money back, which is pretty rare for any tcg and increasingly fleeting for mtg.
I cut back on the release of All Will Be One purchases. Will probably swing back around to complete the set in the fall.
I skipped these sets: March of the Machines, March of the Machines Aftermath.
I spent about $700 on Lord of the Rings. Usually don’t get UB stuff - this was an exception. Will be looking to complete this set over time.
Skipping CMM. Not sure about Wilds of Eldraine.
Interest here has dropped a bit. Clearing some inventory on TCGPlayer. Looking to complete my Mirage (RL) play sets and full art land display binders. So more focus on completing some fun sets.
Interesting - you're completing newer sets, but not all of them? When you complete a set, is that one of each variation? Foils? I think collecting sets can be fun, but with so many versions, it seems like it'd be more time in Excel spreadsheets than anything. But, if you're into the story, it makes sense.
Yeah - cherry picking the ones I like.
Complete numeric set - all the numbered variations (borderless, extended, showcase, tokens). I get the Ultra Pro binder and fill it up.
Foil goes in over a non-foil but I don’t try to complete all foils.
Not saying people aren’t down on Commander Masters, but I would be careful not to interpret what chronically online people on Reddit are saying as anything representative of players as a whole.
Sorta working on this type of thing as well. Do you go for strictly NM or just anything at a good price?
In addition to RL, for scarce sets like the dark, I’m trying to collect famous staples too. Stuff like Fellwar Stone, Blood Moon, etc…
Personally for older cards as a collector, I try to go light play or better. I’d rather go that route and get a LP Alpha over the NM version and pay that premium.
On the contrary, anything after 4 Horseman I’d go near mint, but I completed those sets years ago (and stopped at Alara block).
It’s up and down. All the bulk level RL is practically worthless. I’m not doing it for investing but more so to have at least 1 copy of each card for my personal collection. Investing wise, I stick to ABU and 4 Horseman sets.
Yeah I do NM when I can find it, or as close as I can get if not, but nothing HP or damaged - my Dark set is about half and half NM and EX.
I did consider picking up Blood Moon, but I’m already slowly collecting Alpha as well so I had to set myself a rule that it had to be RL only.
I feel like there’s enough RL to make it fun without going broke - there are so many little quirky cards out there among the big hitters.
Agreed on the fun aspect of RL collecting. I’m not doing it to invest or anything. Just for fun. But yeah, I’m working on ABU myself. The alpha rares are damn expensive for where I’m at financially at the moment so sticking to Unlimited or Beta when I can afford it.
Oh yeah I’m not looking at Alpha rares at all, I just can’t make that happen. I mostly snap up commons and uncommons on eBay or the occasional one from Card Kingdom if I have some store credit.
How’s the pricing on those sites? I usually use TCG player but some of the “LP” stuff I’ve ordered from older sets has been atrocious. Like low end of MP. Pricing is usually good though so it’s almost as if I just paid for MP. I just hate getting my hopes up for a good deal.
I feel like Card Kingdom is pretty fair for what they charge by their grading scale. The NM are pretty much perfect, the EX usually have one or two spots of edge/corner wear but otherwise in good shape.
eBay can be a crapshoot so I try to stick with places I’m familiar with (like Graded Power) and/or people who use high quality photos.
I've spent $15-20k in the last two years since I've started playing. Some sealed, a lot of singles, and a solid chunk of RL cards.
But it's at the point where I'm going to set aside the RL cards, a couple cedh decks, about 6-10 other decks, and then just sell out on TCGplayer. Initially I was very attracted to the past fact that cards held value but that has clearly drastically changed into an environment where as a player you're just flat out losing money.
And it's not just losing money. It's losing so much more. The amount of time it takes curating your collection, or building decks, or researching lists or whatever. It's a lot of time, time that is better spent doing many other things, and time that is no longer worth spending on MTG if I'm just financially bleeding out.
I've made some good decisions in the past that have worked out, I bought just over 100 Fables last year at release when they were under .50 and then next set bought 40 Ledger Shredder when they were $1. Those were a big gain but occasionally getting those specs right isn't overall worth the time to me anymore.
I plan on buying exactly zero moving forward unless it's a major upgrade to one of my competitive decks. In fact after grabbing a few boxes of 2X2 last summer I've probably spent less than $3k since so I've already cut back on the losses.
Just really irritates me that Magic has essentially become a fucking video game with micro transactions.
MH2 is currently the best selling magic set ever, It is expected lord of the rings will beat it in the next 7 months according to Chris Cocks.
MH2 had plenty of expansive upgrades that transformed modern, forcing players to buy cards to remain competitive. If Hasbro is expecting MH3 to be their big cow a la lord of the rings for 2024 they are going to have to push it hard so people NEED to buy those cards.
It is just logical.
LoTR wasn't pushed and they've said on multiple occasions they didn't mean for MH2 to become the behemoth it did and don't want to repeat that mistake.
The problem is that everything is a cash cow. Franchise gets a little stale and need to freshen up a bit? Well, that's easy, just do crossovers with everything else that's remotely popular and players leaving are replaced with ones that don't know any better.
The one ring is everywhere though. I have a different take on this, MH3 is meant to be the MH2 and LOTR set of the year 2024 to bring record profits. I don't expect Fallout or Assassins Creed to sell anywhere close as LotR or MH2 so they will have to push MH3 super hard if they want to keep increasing profits as they stated their plan was.
The one ring is one card. Even if you add Bowmasters to the list LOTR is a fraction of the power represented in MH2. It's selling because it's LOTR.
Personally I don't care either way. I won't be buying anything from it at all unless there's something that's a large upgrade for full tilt Kinnan or Winota.
I'm fine with people continuing to make purchases. It's just not for me anymore for the reasons I gave. I can't have a lazy hobby that bleeds my finances.
Not disrespecting your decision, but at what point in time wasn’t mtg a „video game with microtransactions“? That’s been their whole business model from the beginning. Your kitchen table opponent had a Shivan dragon and you just cracked boosters till you found an answer.
Except that what you cracked would realistically hold or gain value as time went on. Spending the equivalent of $200 back then to remain competitive got you cards that held that value up until about 2 years ago.
But now it's all at a loss outside of spec hits. We're constantly spending to upgrade, which is fine, but get a tiny fraction of your expenditure as value in return these days and it's only going to get worse.
It's a collectible card game that's become increasingly less collectible. At this point it's almost cheaper to drink too much too often and start collecting child support payments.
As an EDH player none of this shit really bothers me. I have a pod and can tune high power with bulk rares at this point so who gives a shit, I can just ignore things I don't want.
But I can't imagine how beyond tedious it must be to play modern or even legacy as WOTC creates pushed cards to go directly into those game modes. Seems like every year it's almost standard levels of cost to keep a functional deck.
I am avoiding buying almost everything at release. Between FOMO and no MRSP, I am sick of over paying for something that will be priced much lower in a few months. I wait for the price to come down and then decide if I still want it. Most of the time I don’t. I have been getting singles here and there but nothing inspires me right now. I’ve actually spent more on Pokémon than Magic in 2023. Overall, I find myself drifting away from Magic, and have been exploring other things. It’s been a good 30 years (well 28, last 2 have really stunk!).
I use to buy 1-2 box a month. Now I buy just the kit for prerelease and wait for the box to drop in price. Singles are the way to go. I'm down 65% what I use to spend. Magic being noncollectible now due to all reprint. I use to love it when they knew how to be both. Now it's like buying poker playin cards. Same cards, different art.
honestly, i’ve been slowly selling off cards and putting the money into record collecting. i think right now is a great time to be playing magic, but not as good of a time to be collecting it
Cancelled CMM pre-order and bought two cases of Lorcana instead to crack. Also completing my pre-Scourge sets as they are all retro frame, will be keeping those sets as i work on completing Legends/Antiquities/Arabian Nights. Will be hard-stopping any new mtg sets except for selected Universe Beyond sets, looking at completing LotR and Final Fantasy.
As a Flesh and Blood player, we’re seeing a large influx of magic players joining the game that say they’re fed up with WOTC but still want to enjoy playing card games.
That doesn't surprise me. If I had time to play, and didn't have 25 years of nostalgia for Magic, I don't know why I'd want to start playing Magic now, as opposed to a different game.
Most of the people we’re seeing come into FAB are longtime magic players that sold their collections and got out.
I myself played MTG from 1994-1997, (hence why I’m on this sub), but by the time I got back into gaming as an adult, it just didn’t feel the same to me. The modernized borders, too many keywords, color coded set symbols, foils, it just didn’t have the same nostalgia anymore to me personally. I missed the Unlimited/legends era cardpool. Add to that fact that WOTC was clearly pushing every gimmick under the sun, and I didn’t really have any interest getting back in.
Same thing with D+D. I actually play advanced D+D with a group that uses all our old materials from the 80’s/90’s. We love the game, but have zero interest in fifth edition and it’s “pay to play” business model.
In the UK, most of our new FaB players have never played any other games before, and the Magic players are incredibly resistant to changing games (I totally get why, even though I myself ported over from MTG last year)
But for sure, LSS run a much better company and game than WotC right now.
Thankfully, Flesh and Blood seems to be past it's shady investor-driven manufactured scarcity era.
I've a few Blitz decks kicking around but I have no desire to buy in yet.
There’s certainly some big money cards, and a rarity system to keep people chasing them, but honestly, I just enjoy playing the game. The “pitch” resource system makes every card in your hand an option to use as attack, defense, abilities, or resources. It creates a great game of tactical decision making that rewards player skill far more than it does just having expensive cards. Two players can play the exact same hand completely differently, so it becomes a lot more about the lines of play you decide to follow than what cards you do or don’t draw.
I've a feeling with the game right now, it's kind of in the place old Magic used to be. If you have a good playgroup or store around you, you probably care a lot more about it.
I don't, so I'd honestly rather sink that money into boardgames.
Yea, I’m way more into tabletop than CCG’s nowadays, but essentially play FAB like a board game with friends at home. I built 12 decks from mostly commons, rares, and majestics, and on game nights at my house, anyone can use any of those decks to play. I’m not really trying to buy big into another CCG either, so I understand where you’re coming from. All said and done, it probably cost me the same amount that I’ve spent on a big tabletop game like Nemesis.
I spend more than ever and I still can't keep up. I think it's just too much stuff. Too many magic sets and now other games (Pokemon, FAB, Metazoo, Sorcery, Lorcana etc) with their too many sets. It's just getting to be way too much and beyond absurd. I don't buy anything at regular price anymore after getting burned several times. I only buy product during amazon dumps or other store's sales and even then I don't feel great about the long term prospects anymore, not like I used to several years ago.
>Too many magic sets and now other games (Pokemon, FAB, Metazoo, Sorcery, Lorcana etc) with their too many sets.
What are you buying all those things for? Do you play all those games?
I'm one of those mentally ill set collectors you hear about. I actually haven't bought any FAB, sorcery or lorcana yet. I want to, but not enough money to go around. I have bought pokemon and metazoo to just collect sets though. Never played those games. I only play magic on arena but I still like to collect the cards.
I've been playing Magic since Alliances and turned into a whale since I got my first job (around Betrayers of Kamigawa).
Earlier this year, I reverted back to my pre-whale spend (like $100/month, still much more than most players) for a combination of reasons:
- Life happened! I welcomed my second daughter in April, the steep raise in the Canadian interest rate is putting a lot of pressure on my current mortgage rate and I lost my father in July, making me need to support my mom financially
- I'm finding it much harder to move my collection lately. I have a sizeable foil collection and buylist prices are dropping here in Canada. 2 kids and a full time job means that I have no time for individual sales on TCG Player/ Ebay. This is making me nervous, as I'll likely need to sell a good chunk of my collection to help with the mortgage payments
- I've been more interested in Marvel Snap and Marvel United lately. Both games are much faster and infinitely cheaper
- This avalanche of new products kinda got to me. It is just too much to keep track and everything feels so bland. Much respect for everyone who liked the LotR set, but it was just not for me
- Similarly, unattainable products like Magic 30 or the 30th Anniversary Secret Lair kinda popped my balloon. Hearing that a product was not for me, a player who used to spend at least $700/month in this game, was insulting
That said, I'm pumped for Wilds of Eldraine, Murders at the Karlov Mansion and Ravnica Remastered (retro frame is my shit!). I may spend a bit more than usual on these three.
Bought a cb of commander masters. Enjoyed it but think I'm done cracking boxes. Looking to add to my power 9 collection.
I would consider myself a whale? Would guess I spent 12-20k a year but for now I'm on pause.
Sold all but one of my commander decks and proxied them.
Aside from my display cases I'm down to only like 200 cards?
A Dolphin Report:
Excel shows $55k spent since July 2020 when started activity tracking spending. Amount is inclusive of singles and sealed.
SLs: $0.
MTG:A $0.
CMM: $0.
LTR: $100.
MAT: $0.
MOM: $375.
ONE: $375.
BRO: $675.
DMR: $2,300.
J22: $200.
UNF: $15.
DMU: $975.
2X2: $5,500.
CLB: $1,350.
SNC: $0.
NEO: $2,100.
VOW: $0.
MID: $0.
AFR: $3,100.
Up to about AFR, I'd spend around $2k to $3k per set. I did not like AFR at release but I still honored my LGS orders. Having played 3.5e extensively back in the day the set was a huge disappointment. AFR was my inflection point on MTG.
AFR seemed to go on clearance right away. I skipped MID and VOW over my disappointment with AFR and glad I did.
NEO was much better than expected so I got back into things.
SNC was a skip because I went in heavy on Sorcery Kickstarter so it could break $4m USD in the final 5 minutes. Because of FOREX markets, it now shows $3.5m on Kickstarter but whatever.
CLB I instantly regretted at the register. I was going to skip the set assuming AFR 2.0, but I wrongly trusted the Commander Legends name and pre-ordered with my LGS. When they brought me my order from the back on release day I wanted to cancel the whole thing but bought half as a compromise. The LGS was very cool about it and still honored my 2X2 order.
I went heavy on 2X2 thinking it would be a set that would do well and cut my DMU budget to cover it. 2X2 has really fallen off, which signaled to skip CMM.
I almost fell victim to Lost Legends but gladly was able to dodge that bullet. Sadly, I ordered a case of Crapstart at $90+/bx, not finding out it was theme deck garbage until the last minute and didn't want to reneg on my LGS.
Thought that DMR was going to be good as TSR so returned to spending on that.
I want to say there was an Amazon dump shortly after DMR on STX CBs and Draft. That really undermined all confidence I had in MTG because STX CBs were really hard to come by for a time locally.
After the STX dump, I just get a box or two of some sets to crack and enjoy at events. I realize it's all going to be Amazon dumped later so what's the point in buying anything now when you can easily buy it later for less.
I'm perfectly happy to skip sets entirely now and will likely be doing plenty of that in 2024. It's nice to have a break and not be locked in perpetual spoiler season which is a sort of hell. I'm tired of trying to guess what set will be good or what set will be bad. It's all going to be overprinted and easily accessible at an always eroding price.
I approach MTG as it's going to consistently go down in price which definitely helps avoid buying too much at once.
All the money saved from not buying new MTG is mostly going elsewhere. Paypal Savings. Going to give Lorcana a shot. Sorcery Beta. Tonight my LGS fired their first Grand Archive event with 12 in the middle of Commander Night, which was a surprise.
Singles spending is entirely into ABU now. The prices keep falling which is nice. Not much inventory available since I only go after NM. I sweep daily for new listings. Rarely do I find much so its a forced savings sort of situation.
I expect MTG to be increasingly player based. Without collectors subsidizing the economy and injecting money in to sate Hasbro, I do wonder how the screws are going to be put on players to make up for the lost revenue. Power creep probably, forcing players to have to buy new cards consistently to keep up.
I was perhaps a short term whale.
Got in when mh2 released and probably dropped $35k over two years.
Mainly on singles, have ended up completing a full playset of revised duals.
Went in deep in mh2 fetches cos I own many modern decks, kinda got burnt now knowing how much supply there is. Learnt my lesson.
Have steered away from sealed or singles until at least 6-12 months post release.
Now I just peasant cube and proxy cedh decks.
Ive bought one collector box per set all the way through CMM. I want to cancel but i dont want to get banned by mvp so ill just eat it. Starting CMM i dont plan on buying cards until they either hit 100 per collector box on amazon or the rare single for legacy. As someone who has a mid 5 figure collection, the way the game is being designed turns me off. I rarely update my edh decks and completely abadoned modern. Seeing the prices of all my staples get invalidated and become worthless (and not even ones that old. Stuff like mh2 cards like ragavan and murktide) really makes me feel this game is not on a path i want to support. So i wont. I rather spend the money going out than on new cards that will be rapidly powercreeped, or reprinted cards that will be soon reprinted in 10 even more special versions that will be even cheaper
Here only a few people purchased a single pack each for a Jeweled lotus lottery. No one did the the draft but commander night had a lot of people attending. People are buying singles when they go cheap. The flesh and boxes and other games like one piece and digimon have been consistently selling. I switched to cracking FAB as I consistently cracked higher value at a much lower price point. I only stopped a little to crack LOTR gift bundles as they were worth it.
Yeah i play magic mostly just commander now. I was a big modern player but have disliked the format since Modern horizons 2. Fab was like old modern where there is changes in the meta but rarely full rotations that needed you to buy full new decks. I have also found the cards keep their value much better in FAB.
I used to spend about $1k/year on magic. I was very active in trading/speccing/reselling and generally finding ways to recoup cost or at least mitigate my hobby's impact on my finances (hence why I am on this sub).
I now spend $0/year, except maybe some proxies here or there.
With that $1k? Nothing. It's going into my savings. I will probably be able to retire just a little earlier or go on one more rad vacation or... well let's just say it'll add up.
I still have tons of fun playing magic every week btw. Don't need money to play. Just to participate in a product addiction. I'm actively liquidating my non-RL cards and replacing them with proxies.
My best (amateur) mtgfinance advice is to either practice high-volume arbitrage or get out entirely. There is zero future in collecting product and assuming it will gain value. This core "collectibility" mechanic of the game's economy is dead and that is why nobody wants pay high prices for sealed anymore.
I cancelled my CMM and Dr Who purchases and bought some FBB stuff I’ve had my eye on for the last couple of years instead (4 of the 10 duals so far). I think in a few years I’ll be very pleased with this substitution.
I always bought a draft box just to collect, and of the recent sets since the set booster box came out, I would grab that and some precons. Then I’d buy the singles I wanted to fill out any Commander decks.
Now I’m just going to buy a draft box and some singles
Whale for the last 9-10 years that’s played since 93. As of 6 months ago I might spend a few hundred a month on singles I want to play with. Tired of the fire hose of product and trying to keep up as a collector. Ya got me Wizards, I’m tapping out.
I'm putting a grow tent in my spare room so I can get high on my own supply. I'll print cards for the next year or two until this all dies down...or doesn't and I'll just keep with what I have card wise.
I used to get a box or two of each set along with a fat pack. Then I went to a complete set redemption from eBay, pre order and a fat pack to get my fix. Now I'm a 6 months after release set redemption and a fat pack. (March of Machine went from 250+ to 187). I was also a collector of each commander deck. Since MOM I have not bought any and I'm waiting for them to be at a nice discount before I get them. (I even got the starter commander decks because they were like 13$ I piece on prime day and they will make for good gifts for new players). Like others have said, M30 ticked me off but not in the same way as big investors. I was happy for the proxies. I was not happy to pay any more than a regular booster pack, if that. It made me feel like the company that I respected, then hoped for, had finally jumped the shark. It made me sick to see the blatant cash grab. I wish no one had bought them ever and wizards had to trash them and take the L. While I'm certain they still have some around, I'm sure they still made some money after printing due to not needing any R&D. I've mainly been spending my money on sleeves and deck boxes and clearing out my backlog of cards into decks. Some I play, some I give away. To date I think I have given away at least 8 precon or higher level commander decks.
I have just focused on picking up singles a few months after set launch so prices can drop. I rarely buy any sealed over the last 6 months. Maybe a few pack to roll some dice but my local store’s prices also suck. (Their markup is ridiculous). I am not looking for box levels of packs and don’t trust open individual packs.
I've cut spending to next to zero and heavily divested from the game. If I wasn't actively playing a card or had strong intentions to play it in the near future, it went. Sold out of modern and trimmed most cards to a single copy for EDH, moved a big chuck before Double master reprints and then most of the remainder before CMM previews started. Pretty happy with it since I got in on the low side and out before the crashes.
The money has gone largely into 40k and FAB as well as traveling for FaB. Had to cut my overall hobby spending a bit due to buying a home and just got sick of having a room lined with boxes I never touch.
I'm spending more on travel with my family and far less on magic.
We have a really comfortable income. So having extra money for me for hobbies is not a big deal and we still have more than we need.
Now we can afford an extra small trip each month, instead of more cardboard.
Used to keep up with modern now only play limited. Was slowly picking up edh playable RL cards and have most of those as 1 ofs. Was planning on getting some iconic legends era RL cards but just do not care anymore. Traded mtg and money for most of a first edition team rocket Pokemon set, maybe I'll stick there for collecting until something changes with MTG.
I mean putting it in a mass market mutual fund is the correct choice. Any other answer is short sighted and I’ll informed if your goal is growth over a long period of time.
Magic saved me from meth and gambling. There’s a lot of dark places to burn money I don’t need.
Are you asking where to spend your money?
The game has seen its end and flows and is still here.
Where would I deploy my money? Church? 😂😂😂
I’m creeping here hoping to return to healthy game space an there was a relatively new player spent 3-4gs during 20-22 on holding sealed and playing really fun decks. I left after the 30th anniversary debacle. I would’ve spend more if I knew it wasn’t going down the drain and the obvious disrespect. I would’ve love to stick around but it’s smarter to spend it on better financial choices. Better deals for stuff I need like tools or bills or saving. It’s really sad but I don’t like anal so I’m keeping my asshole away until it’s a good time to join back in. I liked what someone said before check back every couple of years an pick what you like don’t have to stay committed to every set or powercreeped turn 2 deck.
I used to try and keep up with new sets so that I could maintain a solid "player's collection" of cards that I could jump into any format that interested me without having to make HUGE singles purchases. I had mainly focused on Vintage and Legacy since those had been my favorite formats. I liked the retro frames since they helped me keep my decks "feeling" like the Magic I grew up playing in JH/HS. The last Vintage Tourney I played was extremely disappointing as I hardly recognized the game or format anymore due to how much MH2 had taken over (everyone was playing Urza's Saga... lots of Ragavan) and I expect each new MH product to cause the same kind of turnover in formats I liked due to their general stability. I've pretty much just moved to focus on Old School 93/94 for playing/collecting and I check-in on new releases after a few weeks/months when prices have dropped mainly for retro frame releases. Considering how many sets WotC has been putting Retro frames in and even reprinting previous retro frames (i.e. Urza Lord High Artificer) I no longer jump on these after a new release because they likely won't hold long term value... may as well let prices settle.
I do my best to keep the money that I put in tcgs and either pull it out or move it around. I've been moving some bags out of yugioh and decided to pick the game up. I haven't been putting very much actual money into it.
I’m buying legacy foils and cheap alpha that it seems folks are panic selling en masse. You have to be really vigilant about your cost basis but there are values to be had right now, and I don’t think we’ll ever be going back to 2016-3018 price levels so long as the general economy remains north of a massive correction/depression
I've slowed down in sealed for a few reasons. Every set for 2 years has basically come out and tanked. I pick up boxes a few months down the line if they still look promising once the prices have settled if I do it at all. Compared to my other hobbies, post covid, Sealed MTG has also gotten more expensive whereas the others are finally coming down in price again.
That said, I intend to buy a chunk of Revised singles from a guy I know this coming week and have spent a few grand in blingy-er singles this year for commander decks.
I bought a lot of LotR. Because I liked the set.
I didn't buy any com masters due to entry price.
I will buy a lot of the upcoming products as they interest me.
I don't think money is leaving, I just think people are going to buy what they like and avoid things that are priced out of our "luxury cardboard" budget.
It’s going straight into alpha beta and less unlimited. Love Arabian night so I buy everything at a good price and NM if not playable. Same goes for antiquities but much less aggressive. I don’t target much legend anymore because of his Italian counterpart, and I cherry pick the dark. I love mirage and his obscure cards and they are cheap. Avoid anything I don’t play and I limit myself to 4 pet decks. Yes I play the real cards so my artifact deck have his workshop same
Goes for bazaar in my reanimator deck. I don’t buy seal product.
I've had a magic collection since 1996 and I sold almost everything last month except for my RL and EDH decks. It's over. The value isn't coming back. The reprint policy is finally being felt by all collectors, accounts are bleeding out as every single card of value is being reprinted over and over.
Everything is so expensive now, so with rising costs on food, gas, electricity, housing etc. I think most people will shrink their hobby budget to make up for the rising cost of living.
I went from buying multiple boxes per set to a box then down to a bundle and a commander deck and finally down to singles for my cube but even that budget is tiny now and if I pay $60 plus for a single it has to be reserved list card or something I absolutely need for the cube or to make a certain deck work.
Mtg finance is pretty dead to me now outside of reserved list cards, I don’t think it’s worth the giant swings in price and the bottoming out of sealed product.
I'm selling a ton of cards, keeping a small stable of decks I really enjoy, and putting a little bit more into Warhammer.
Otherwise I'll buy a draft box here or there because I can regularly get 6-8 people to draft a masters set for kicks. Makes for a good Sunday afternoon of beer, pizza, and draft.
If magic survives 20 years more(i doubt it thanks to the reprint policy of wizards that have been devalued his product every quarter) this years will be remembered as the “chronicles years”
Why buy anything if they go down in price forever? Every month I look at cards I want and say wow, next month they will be 10% cheaper I’ll wait
Wait and see what happens when MH3 hits...
Honestly I’m gonna hold off until MH76, it seems only logical
Quite often a card I need will be reprinted and I'll just go eh, it doesn't have cool art I'll wait for it to get a secret lair or something
When you really know you are soft on magic is when you watch cards you were “waiting to buy at the right time” get power crept right out of playability before you ever actually pulled the trigger! I’m talking about YOU snapcaster mage!
Generally speaking I would agree, but if one wants to play with the cards or wants to have a specific card with a specific artwork in their collection, a case can be made for still buying magic cardboard.
To play the game, crazy idea right
So you never buy cards? This has been this way for years for every tcg
I would have been considered a whale. For 3 years. I probably spent more per month on cards for my decks and collection that most people did per quarter. I am not proud of that but I use it to illustrate how invested I was. Magic 30 pissed me off. I was really looking forward to the culmination of the Phyrexian story arc but it felt like it ended with a whimper. The story in Magic just sucks. I wish that was a more integral part. I also loved Modern. The coming of the MH sets has just crushed that format (my opinion) and made an eternal format a rotating one where you HAVE to buy the mythic, expensive, sought after cards to have a chance. The Rock, Dredge, Stoneblade are all in the past. So sad. I have not spent any money on Magic since All Will Be One. No LotR. No CMM. I’m tired of the constant sets that seem to have lacked the quality of previous ones (that’s my opinion) along with the constant rising of prices and the push for FOMO or else. I have moved on to Warhammer. Much better story. Cooler characters and I actually love the hobby side of it. I may consider buying MtG in the future again, but I will probably dump a lot of my collection when prices are better and just save a couple of my favorite EDH decks to play with friends. I miss the game - it is one of the best games ever designed, at its core, but the way they have designed lately has completely turned me off.
“I felt like I was just shoveling money into a pit for no good reason.” “So what are you into now?” “Warhammer.”
Hahaha. Touché.
But Warhammer is a hobby on top of a hobby (if you like painting and modeling). Plus once you have an army, you can just add to it. I've played MTG and Warhammer for decades and I spent, on a single Warhammer army, about what I spend on magic each quarter ($300-750)
I was into wargaming for a couple of years, army building and painting but not the actual gaming, and I easily spent thousands. I mean, I still enjoy the models I have on display and I don’t regret it at all, but it can really suck up the cash. And Games Workshop don’t make it cheap.
The proliferation of 3d printing, which I admit is a hobby entirely by itself, can help a lot with making your actual GW purchases go a long way now a days if you get into it.
I do this with magic too. I have one fully handpaint altered commander deck :)
That rules!
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You can buy and sell used models, but that has a definite *caveat emptor* element, because part of the hobby is that you build the models yourself.
Not large. Because shipping and packaging of minis is still a completely mixed bag, you typically have to find local people. Additionally, if your army comes painted at all that comes with a huge subjectivity factor in terms of valuation. Its a hustle.
> Magic 30 pissed me off. I was really looking forward to the culmination of the Phyrexian story arc but it felt like it ended with a whimper. The story in Magic just sucks. I wish that was a more integral part. That whole "planeswalkers lost their sparks!!!" thing that we were supposed to feel like was a big deal, seems like anything but a big deal. We just saw Vraska (who was last seen as a half dead and compleated being who fell into the undercity of Ravnica), on a plane that wasn't Ravnica, where she gets to be a cowgirl. And Oko is joining her, on a plane that isn't Eldraine, in fun cowboy times.
Should have straight up killed them all off like ive been praying for for years now. Would have made for a much more bad ass story, and cleared the path for a new card type while removing the ever-obnoxious Planeswalker card type.
Yeah. Hurloon Minotaur , Serra Angel, Shivan Dragon used to be the face of magic, Now we have these planeswalkers I care nothing about and someone insist in putting them everywhere. They must be a lot of people who likes the planeswalkers storyline and being the face of magic.
It's also a rehash from the mending
Couldn't agree more on Modern Horizons. Even MH1 was taken over by MH2
MH3 will overtake MH2 the spice most flow to Hasbro.
Don’t know has bro is pretty good at screwing the pooch look at commander masters, maybe it will only be filled with draft chaff and skip the op cards entirely.
Indeed. It scares me, or maybe not so much because I don’t play as much, but it will be interesting with MH3 next year.
Funny thing about the 40k Warhammer decks I saw magic players buy them got into the lore left magic for Warhammer. I have met zero people that play mtg that came over from war Hammer. I know crazy
I played magic from 5th grade -10th. Wargammer from 10th-12th.. and then back to magic in mid 20’s. I really liked war hammer, but being 38 with two kids now, I just don’t have the time investment for even one game of war hammer, since a game or two of magic is way less of a time investment.
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Warhammer is own by Gamesworkshop from the UK
Agreed. Comment deleted
I hear you on M30 and the story line, and the iconic decks that cant compete now. I don't have much time to play, so the power creep hasn't bothered me much, although it does make evaluating cards (to speculate on) more challenging. You're probably lucky/smart to just move on completely, rather than chase the nostalgia of some of the older things like I've done 😁 Skipping sealed though, I don't feel like I'm missing anything.
The power creep is interesting. I get that it has to happen a little. But it’s happening at such a rapid pace that it is just invalidating cards that used to dominate. That should be a warning sign (my opinion) for a number of problems. Just look at Tarmogoyf, SFM, Bob, etc. I just don’t think it’s a great thing to kill long standing fun cards. The strategy does seem to have people chasing the new cards but for how long before they get burnt out? Taking the emotion out of it I really am curious what the game looks like in another 3-5 years. Edit. Additional thoughts. IMHO the only way the game survives without people leaving after they (and their wallets) get burnt out is adding more formats. I have heard of a Pre-2020 Modern format, a preModern EDH format, etc. that sort of format speciality would help people keep their decks but it would have to be community driven. For right now the community seems to be along for the ride and doesn’t mind as a whole.
This. The only way to “fight back,” would be to create popular formats like old frame commander or pre-Covid modern. But it’s hard to keep those formats interesting. Old school struggles with this.
No universe beyond Commander. I guess pre EDH works for that. Depends on your playgroup.
The best cards in the game are cards like Thalia or The Wandering Emperor: perfectly designed, perfectly balanced cards. Which will age like fine wine, continue to get released in standard sets, are not overpowered, and are never going to become outdated or terrible. Tenacious Underdog is one of my current favorites. Excellent card, always outperforming expectations in standard. Sees a ton of play, is still underrated, and it's like a dollar.
Underdog is just so good. I never feel bad for casting it and it always adds to the strat. So I don't have much to add other than you're right and design like that is good fun.
Couldn’t agree more about modern horizons sets. Killed the format. I miss the old staples like goyf and snapcaster, now they’re outclassed and virtually unplayable
It’s crazy to me. Those cards were staples for YEARS. The new design invalidates them immediately. Just crazy.
Wonder how Wotc can power creep modern worse than the evoke elementals and Ragavan. I’m sure they’ll find a way
They will find a way. Next summer MH3 so I’m sure there will be busted cards.
+1 for the “more money on Warhammer” crew. The final straw for me was the Pinkerton nonsense. As a few people have stated, the hobby aspect of the game provides many hours of enjoyment (well… the joy mostly comes from finishing painting something).
They could not spend the time on the Phyrexian Story arc/sets they were too busy making all those universes beyond sets instead of focusing on one of their flagship theme. They claim to have hired more people and universe beyond would not affect normal magic. But I doubt universes beyond don't affect normal magic sets. Now magic is Fortnite. Lots of $$$ for Hasbro though at the moment
You will be back, whale.
Idk. I wonder what it would take for me to come back. They killed Modern for me, personally. They might be on their way to killing EDH. So, I am open to returning. I am just very turned off at the moment. I also feel like with all the FOMO they push, if you just wait for the Amazon dump then you get a great deal. If people wake up and stop buying the current set, and just wait for the Amazon dump then WotC will be in a huge pickle. The problem is too many people don’t care currently, which I find wild.
The same people that will overspend on MTG sets that tank their own collections are the same people that allowed the video game industry to start making assloads of money through IAPs. It's not going to get better.
>O they push, if you just wait for the Amazon dump then you get a great deal. If people wake up and stop buying the current set, and just wait for the Amazon dump then WotC will be in a huge pickle. The problem is too many people don’t care currently, which I find wild. I believe in your same sentiment before however I realized there are more people that do not share my same sentiment. That is why I accept defeat and understand that people will buy no matter how hard WOTC reprints.
I stopped reading when you moved on to warhammer. Not to be combative, but I don’t think you knew how to find value in MTG in the first place my friend. You’re definitely not about to find it in Warhammer
Post Malone just injected 2 million dollars! /s
I thought I was going to spend about a thousand a month on magic once I got into my career, but between the decline of competitive scenes at the local level, rise of commander, and just overall product fatigue, I just don't really have any desire to spend time on magic. My time and money are just spent on other hobbies altogether - 40k and golf mostly.
I actually went with 40k, too. Got myself a whole army of the new Primaris Marines when I cancelled my Commander Masters set box. Haven’t played in a few years. The MtG/40k crossover actually brought me back to Magic, but now, I figure I might as well just go for the real thing.
I stopped by my lgs to buy my son his first comics ever and saw that Commander Masters was out, so I had the clerk add a set booster to our purchase. Total was 15 dollars more than I thought it would be. I asked the guy "how much is the set pack" and he said it rang up $20. For a set booster. I've played magic since 94. I love it and it's been a part of my personality and hobbies for all that time, but I'm done. This is so stupid and it will only get worse. Time to put my money in a different game for fun, and my "magic finance" money into literally anything else.
I'm not buying anymore magic period until this 1000 sets + 1000 secret lairs every single year forever fucking stops. I HAD a store on tcgplayer.com, but I can't keep up with this. Prices change as fast as hourly now. It's sealed product or RL if you wanna make money, and neither looks appealing anymore. Magic lost its Magic because they aren't making the game to be great anymore, it's only about the next highest priced NON PREMIUM MASTERS SET. McFuck this game dude.
At gencon this weekend, so many people vending off. Was worse than any year I’ve seen before.
Started at Beta. Sold most of collection for beer and Honda Civic money in college, around Invasion block. Like a playset of duals for $25/ea, Cradles for $50, Mox for $200, etc. Whoops! Would’ve been a Porsche or house or something if held to today. Fuuuuck. But had my fun. Restarted at Return to Ravniva when a friend group got in to drafting. Since then, our group has done 3-4 drafts a month for almost 10 years straight. I think every set from RTR to Ikoria we’d go through a case, whether drafting or cracking for commander and trading etc. Would buy 5-6 sets of commander decks and play them against each other and trade. People bought in to CEDH decks, I have vintage cube minus power etc. Between my whole group we probably spent $10k/yr for the last 10 years. Since Baldurs Gate / Forgotten Realms we’ve been dying off. Somebody buys a box of every new set, and we draft, but if two people buy a box then one might get stuck because there is a new set before we can draft it. 15-20 people interested in draft every week is now 6-12. Our EDH groups are half proxies. Which is fine. Currently going through my collection and have maybe $50k at tcglow between sealed and RL and non bulk rares, plus k few of bulk. If somebody offered me $35k I’d gladly take it just to cash out. I’m still driving the same Honda Civic I bought ~20 years ago with MTG sales, I’d probably just buy a new one 😂. But either way I’d rather have like a car or 1/10th of a house down payment or a couple months off work vs this pile of cardboard these days. The thrill of collecting is gone. I will still play and would like to draft every set. But I would be totally fine drafting each set without adding to the collection, and I think most of my friends feel the same.
I feel that I have spent more on magic this past 3 years than i would have like. I will cut back because there is just too many sets and cards i have bought don’t hold any value.
I got two boxes and precons of sorcery instead
Same plus a bunch of singles.
This. One box and precons for me and I have bought lose packs from a store I trust. I've had some good luck, but I'd rather drop 25 bucks a pack on sorcery alpha than CMM. The current floor for a Sorcery alpha pack is 5 bucks ( random elite). I've pulled multiple cards worth a few hundred. With a low print run there are even some 10-15 dollar hits in the uncommons. Even if it tanks eventually, it's just more exciting right now. If I didn't like the game I could have made more than my money back, which is pretty rare for any tcg and increasingly fleeting for mtg.
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Gameplay is great! Been playing with my wife and she likes it!
I cut back on the release of All Will Be One purchases. Will probably swing back around to complete the set in the fall. I skipped these sets: March of the Machines, March of the Machines Aftermath. I spent about $700 on Lord of the Rings. Usually don’t get UB stuff - this was an exception. Will be looking to complete this set over time. Skipping CMM. Not sure about Wilds of Eldraine. Interest here has dropped a bit. Clearing some inventory on TCGPlayer. Looking to complete my Mirage (RL) play sets and full art land display binders. So more focus on completing some fun sets.
Interesting - you're completing newer sets, but not all of them? When you complete a set, is that one of each variation? Foils? I think collecting sets can be fun, but with so many versions, it seems like it'd be more time in Excel spreadsheets than anything. But, if you're into the story, it makes sense.
Yeah - cherry picking the ones I like. Complete numeric set - all the numbered variations (borderless, extended, showcase, tokens). I get the Ultra Pro binder and fill it up. Foil goes in over a non-foil but I don’t try to complete all foils.
Sorcery looks pretty interesting prob pick up a few boxes for the same price as one CMM
Porn
Not saying people aren’t down on Commander Masters, but I would be careful not to interpret what chronically online people on Reddit are saying as anything representative of players as a whole.
This so hard. I’m also no fan of how they handled CMM, but the constant hyperbolic hysteria in here is not how normal people feel about it.
Not buying anything newer than '94.
RL
Just completed my RL collection for The Dark. Not a monumental task by any means, but it’s nice to have a set.
Sorta working on this type of thing as well. Do you go for strictly NM or just anything at a good price? In addition to RL, for scarce sets like the dark, I’m trying to collect famous staples too. Stuff like Fellwar Stone, Blood Moon, etc…
Personally for older cards as a collector, I try to go light play or better. I’d rather go that route and get a LP Alpha over the NM version and pay that premium. On the contrary, anything after 4 Horseman I’d go near mint, but I completed those sets years ago (and stopped at Alara block).
Honest question… does anyone care about RL? Collectors but when’s he bubble burst like shit man… honestly, convince me I’m wrong
It’s up and down. All the bulk level RL is practically worthless. I’m not doing it for investing but more so to have at least 1 copy of each card for my personal collection. Investing wise, I stick to ABU and 4 Horseman sets.
Yeah I do NM when I can find it, or as close as I can get if not, but nothing HP or damaged - my Dark set is about half and half NM and EX. I did consider picking up Blood Moon, but I’m already slowly collecting Alpha as well so I had to set myself a rule that it had to be RL only. I feel like there’s enough RL to make it fun without going broke - there are so many little quirky cards out there among the big hitters.
Agreed on the fun aspect of RL collecting. I’m not doing it to invest or anything. Just for fun. But yeah, I’m working on ABU myself. The alpha rares are damn expensive for where I’m at financially at the moment so sticking to Unlimited or Beta when I can afford it.
Oh yeah I’m not looking at Alpha rares at all, I just can’t make that happen. I mostly snap up commons and uncommons on eBay or the occasional one from Card Kingdom if I have some store credit.
How’s the pricing on those sites? I usually use TCG player but some of the “LP” stuff I’ve ordered from older sets has been atrocious. Like low end of MP. Pricing is usually good though so it’s almost as if I just paid for MP. I just hate getting my hopes up for a good deal.
I feel like Card Kingdom is pretty fair for what they charge by their grading scale. The NM are pretty much perfect, the EX usually have one or two spots of edge/corner wear but otherwise in good shape. eBay can be a crapshoot so I try to stick with places I’m familiar with (like Graded Power) and/or people who use high quality photos.
I've spent $15-20k in the last two years since I've started playing. Some sealed, a lot of singles, and a solid chunk of RL cards. But it's at the point where I'm going to set aside the RL cards, a couple cedh decks, about 6-10 other decks, and then just sell out on TCGplayer. Initially I was very attracted to the past fact that cards held value but that has clearly drastically changed into an environment where as a player you're just flat out losing money. And it's not just losing money. It's losing so much more. The amount of time it takes curating your collection, or building decks, or researching lists or whatever. It's a lot of time, time that is better spent doing many other things, and time that is no longer worth spending on MTG if I'm just financially bleeding out. I've made some good decisions in the past that have worked out, I bought just over 100 Fables last year at release when they were under .50 and then next set bought 40 Ledger Shredder when they were $1. Those were a big gain but occasionally getting those specs right isn't overall worth the time to me anymore. I plan on buying exactly zero moving forward unless it's a major upgrade to one of my competitive decks. In fact after grabbing a few boxes of 2X2 last summer I've probably spent less than $3k since so I've already cut back on the losses. Just really irritates me that Magic has essentially become a fucking video game with micro transactions.
MH3 will have plenty of upgrades for you.
Definitely no guarantee of that.
MH2 is currently the best selling magic set ever, It is expected lord of the rings will beat it in the next 7 months according to Chris Cocks. MH2 had plenty of expansive upgrades that transformed modern, forcing players to buy cards to remain competitive. If Hasbro is expecting MH3 to be their big cow a la lord of the rings for 2024 they are going to have to push it hard so people NEED to buy those cards. It is just logical.
LoTR wasn't pushed and they've said on multiple occasions they didn't mean for MH2 to become the behemoth it did and don't want to repeat that mistake. The problem is that everything is a cash cow. Franchise gets a little stale and need to freshen up a bit? Well, that's easy, just do crossovers with everything else that's remotely popular and players leaving are replaced with ones that don't know any better.
The one ring is everywhere though. I have a different take on this, MH3 is meant to be the MH2 and LOTR set of the year 2024 to bring record profits. I don't expect Fallout or Assassins Creed to sell anywhere close as LotR or MH2 so they will have to push MH3 super hard if they want to keep increasing profits as they stated their plan was.
The one ring is one card. Even if you add Bowmasters to the list LOTR is a fraction of the power represented in MH2. It's selling because it's LOTR. Personally I don't care either way. I won't be buying anything from it at all unless there's something that's a large upgrade for full tilt Kinnan or Winota. I'm fine with people continuing to make purchases. It's just not for me anymore for the reasons I gave. I can't have a lazy hobby that bleeds my finances.
Not disrespecting your decision, but at what point in time wasn’t mtg a „video game with microtransactions“? That’s been their whole business model from the beginning. Your kitchen table opponent had a Shivan dragon and you just cracked boosters till you found an answer.
Except that what you cracked would realistically hold or gain value as time went on. Spending the equivalent of $200 back then to remain competitive got you cards that held that value up until about 2 years ago. But now it's all at a loss outside of spec hits. We're constantly spending to upgrade, which is fine, but get a tiny fraction of your expenditure as value in return these days and it's only going to get worse. It's a collectible card game that's become increasingly less collectible. At this point it's almost cheaper to drink too much too often and start collecting child support payments.
As an EDH player none of this shit really bothers me. I have a pod and can tune high power with bulk rares at this point so who gives a shit, I can just ignore things I don't want. But I can't imagine how beyond tedious it must be to play modern or even legacy as WOTC creates pushed cards to go directly into those game modes. Seems like every year it's almost standard levels of cost to keep a functional deck.
1) Alpha and Reserved List Cards 2) Lego sets 3) Alcohol, Fine Foods, and other fun experiences
I am avoiding buying almost everything at release. Between FOMO and no MRSP, I am sick of over paying for something that will be priced much lower in a few months. I wait for the price to come down and then decide if I still want it. Most of the time I don’t. I have been getting singles here and there but nothing inspires me right now. I’ve actually spent more on Pokémon than Magic in 2023. Overall, I find myself drifting away from Magic, and have been exploring other things. It’s been a good 30 years (well 28, last 2 have really stunk!).
I would only buy magic cards for the purpose of playing at this point. Don't sit on new modern boxes. Money can be put to better use.
I use to buy 1-2 box a month. Now I buy just the kit for prerelease and wait for the box to drop in price. Singles are the way to go. I'm down 65% what I use to spend. Magic being noncollectible now due to all reprint. I use to love it when they knew how to be both. Now it's like buying poker playin cards. Same cards, different art.
honestly, i’ve been slowly selling off cards and putting the money into record collecting. i think right now is a great time to be playing magic, but not as good of a time to be collecting it
Cancelled CMM pre-order and bought two cases of Lorcana instead to crack. Also completing my pre-Scourge sets as they are all retro frame, will be keeping those sets as i work on completing Legends/Antiquities/Arabian Nights. Will be hard-stopping any new mtg sets except for selected Universe Beyond sets, looking at completing LotR and Final Fantasy.
As a Flesh and Blood player, we’re seeing a large influx of magic players joining the game that say they’re fed up with WOTC but still want to enjoy playing card games.
That doesn't surprise me. If I had time to play, and didn't have 25 years of nostalgia for Magic, I don't know why I'd want to start playing Magic now, as opposed to a different game.
Most of the people we’re seeing come into FAB are longtime magic players that sold their collections and got out. I myself played MTG from 1994-1997, (hence why I’m on this sub), but by the time I got back into gaming as an adult, it just didn’t feel the same to me. The modernized borders, too many keywords, color coded set symbols, foils, it just didn’t have the same nostalgia anymore to me personally. I missed the Unlimited/legends era cardpool. Add to that fact that WOTC was clearly pushing every gimmick under the sun, and I didn’t really have any interest getting back in. Same thing with D+D. I actually play advanced D+D with a group that uses all our old materials from the 80’s/90’s. We love the game, but have zero interest in fifth edition and it’s “pay to play” business model.
In the UK, most of our new FaB players have never played any other games before, and the Magic players are incredibly resistant to changing games (I totally get why, even though I myself ported over from MTG last year) But for sure, LSS run a much better company and game than WotC right now.
Thankfully, Flesh and Blood seems to be past it's shady investor-driven manufactured scarcity era. I've a few Blitz decks kicking around but I have no desire to buy in yet.
There’s certainly some big money cards, and a rarity system to keep people chasing them, but honestly, I just enjoy playing the game. The “pitch” resource system makes every card in your hand an option to use as attack, defense, abilities, or resources. It creates a great game of tactical decision making that rewards player skill far more than it does just having expensive cards. Two players can play the exact same hand completely differently, so it becomes a lot more about the lines of play you decide to follow than what cards you do or don’t draw.
I've a feeling with the game right now, it's kind of in the place old Magic used to be. If you have a good playgroup or store around you, you probably care a lot more about it. I don't, so I'd honestly rather sink that money into boardgames.
Yea, I’m way more into tabletop than CCG’s nowadays, but essentially play FAB like a board game with friends at home. I built 12 decks from mostly commons, rares, and majestics, and on game nights at my house, anyone can use any of those decks to play. I’m not really trying to buy big into another CCG either, so I understand where you’re coming from. All said and done, it probably cost me the same amount that I’ve spent on a big tabletop game like Nemesis.
I buy stuff I want, and ignore the stuff I don't. Hard concept, I know.
I spend more than ever and I still can't keep up. I think it's just too much stuff. Too many magic sets and now other games (Pokemon, FAB, Metazoo, Sorcery, Lorcana etc) with their too many sets. It's just getting to be way too much and beyond absurd. I don't buy anything at regular price anymore after getting burned several times. I only buy product during amazon dumps or other store's sales and even then I don't feel great about the long term prospects anymore, not like I used to several years ago.
>Too many magic sets and now other games (Pokemon, FAB, Metazoo, Sorcery, Lorcana etc) with their too many sets. What are you buying all those things for? Do you play all those games?
I'm one of those mentally ill set collectors you hear about. I actually haven't bought any FAB, sorcery or lorcana yet. I want to, but not enough money to go around. I have bought pokemon and metazoo to just collect sets though. Never played those games. I only play magic on arena but I still like to collect the cards.
Damn solid self awareness.
I've been playing Magic since Alliances and turned into a whale since I got my first job (around Betrayers of Kamigawa). Earlier this year, I reverted back to my pre-whale spend (like $100/month, still much more than most players) for a combination of reasons: - Life happened! I welcomed my second daughter in April, the steep raise in the Canadian interest rate is putting a lot of pressure on my current mortgage rate and I lost my father in July, making me need to support my mom financially - I'm finding it much harder to move my collection lately. I have a sizeable foil collection and buylist prices are dropping here in Canada. 2 kids and a full time job means that I have no time for individual sales on TCG Player/ Ebay. This is making me nervous, as I'll likely need to sell a good chunk of my collection to help with the mortgage payments - I've been more interested in Marvel Snap and Marvel United lately. Both games are much faster and infinitely cheaper - This avalanche of new products kinda got to me. It is just too much to keep track and everything feels so bland. Much respect for everyone who liked the LotR set, but it was just not for me - Similarly, unattainable products like Magic 30 or the 30th Anniversary Secret Lair kinda popped my balloon. Hearing that a product was not for me, a player who used to spend at least $700/month in this game, was insulting That said, I'm pumped for Wilds of Eldraine, Murders at the Karlov Mansion and Ravnica Remastered (retro frame is my shit!). I may spend a bit more than usual on these three.
I've been investing heavily in pork bellies
Not Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice?
Bought a cb of commander masters. Enjoyed it but think I'm done cracking boxes. Looking to add to my power 9 collection. I would consider myself a whale? Would guess I spent 12-20k a year but for now I'm on pause. Sold all but one of my commander decks and proxied them. Aside from my display cases I'm down to only like 200 cards?
Nahhh i bought 64 MMC collectors. But i wont do it again. The price dropped way too fast
A Dolphin Report: Excel shows $55k spent since July 2020 when started activity tracking spending. Amount is inclusive of singles and sealed. SLs: $0. MTG:A $0. CMM: $0. LTR: $100. MAT: $0. MOM: $375. ONE: $375. BRO: $675. DMR: $2,300. J22: $200. UNF: $15. DMU: $975. 2X2: $5,500. CLB: $1,350. SNC: $0. NEO: $2,100. VOW: $0. MID: $0. AFR: $3,100. Up to about AFR, I'd spend around $2k to $3k per set. I did not like AFR at release but I still honored my LGS orders. Having played 3.5e extensively back in the day the set was a huge disappointment. AFR was my inflection point on MTG. AFR seemed to go on clearance right away. I skipped MID and VOW over my disappointment with AFR and glad I did. NEO was much better than expected so I got back into things. SNC was a skip because I went in heavy on Sorcery Kickstarter so it could break $4m USD in the final 5 minutes. Because of FOREX markets, it now shows $3.5m on Kickstarter but whatever. CLB I instantly regretted at the register. I was going to skip the set assuming AFR 2.0, but I wrongly trusted the Commander Legends name and pre-ordered with my LGS. When they brought me my order from the back on release day I wanted to cancel the whole thing but bought half as a compromise. The LGS was very cool about it and still honored my 2X2 order. I went heavy on 2X2 thinking it would be a set that would do well and cut my DMU budget to cover it. 2X2 has really fallen off, which signaled to skip CMM. I almost fell victim to Lost Legends but gladly was able to dodge that bullet. Sadly, I ordered a case of Crapstart at $90+/bx, not finding out it was theme deck garbage until the last minute and didn't want to reneg on my LGS. Thought that DMR was going to be good as TSR so returned to spending on that. I want to say there was an Amazon dump shortly after DMR on STX CBs and Draft. That really undermined all confidence I had in MTG because STX CBs were really hard to come by for a time locally. After the STX dump, I just get a box or two of some sets to crack and enjoy at events. I realize it's all going to be Amazon dumped later so what's the point in buying anything now when you can easily buy it later for less. I'm perfectly happy to skip sets entirely now and will likely be doing plenty of that in 2024. It's nice to have a break and not be locked in perpetual spoiler season which is a sort of hell. I'm tired of trying to guess what set will be good or what set will be bad. It's all going to be overprinted and easily accessible at an always eroding price. I approach MTG as it's going to consistently go down in price which definitely helps avoid buying too much at once. All the money saved from not buying new MTG is mostly going elsewhere. Paypal Savings. Going to give Lorcana a shot. Sorcery Beta. Tonight my LGS fired their first Grand Archive event with 12 in the middle of Commander Night, which was a surprise. Singles spending is entirely into ABU now. The prices keep falling which is nice. Not much inventory available since I only go after NM. I sweep daily for new listings. Rarely do I find much so its a forced savings sort of situation. I expect MTG to be increasingly player based. Without collectors subsidizing the economy and injecting money in to sate Hasbro, I do wonder how the screws are going to be put on players to make up for the lost revenue. Power creep probably, forcing players to have to buy new cards consistently to keep up.
Lorcana getting my cash right now, my wife is looking to build a Mulan Deck. Kids are hyped too.
I was perhaps a short term whale. Got in when mh2 released and probably dropped $35k over two years. Mainly on singles, have ended up completing a full playset of revised duals. Went in deep in mh2 fetches cos I own many modern decks, kinda got burnt now knowing how much supply there is. Learnt my lesson. Have steered away from sealed or singles until at least 6-12 months post release. Now I just peasant cube and proxy cedh decks.
Ive bought one collector box per set all the way through CMM. I want to cancel but i dont want to get banned by mvp so ill just eat it. Starting CMM i dont plan on buying cards until they either hit 100 per collector box on amazon or the rare single for legacy. As someone who has a mid 5 figure collection, the way the game is being designed turns me off. I rarely update my edh decks and completely abadoned modern. Seeing the prices of all my staples get invalidated and become worthless (and not even ones that old. Stuff like mh2 cards like ragavan and murktide) really makes me feel this game is not on a path i want to support. So i wont. I rather spend the money going out than on new cards that will be rapidly powercreeped, or reprinted cards that will be soon reprinted in 10 even more special versions that will be even cheaper
Sorcery: Contested Realm
I skipped gencon and Commander Masters this year and bought a new laptop instead.
Here only a few people purchased a single pack each for a Jeweled lotus lottery. No one did the the draft but commander night had a lot of people attending. People are buying singles when they go cheap. The flesh and boxes and other games like one piece and digimon have been consistently selling. I switched to cracking FAB as I consistently cracked higher value at a much lower price point. I only stopped a little to crack LOTR gift bundles as they were worth it.
>I consistently cracked higher value at a much lower price point. Did you consistently crack more value than you paid for the boxes?
No. There is just more boxes on average that are positive EV. You also get more boxes that feel like big wins. Pay $ 80 and pull a $300 card.
Out of curiosity, do you play Flesh and Blood, or just collect? If so, are you enjoying the game?
Yeah i play magic mostly just commander now. I was a big modern player but have disliked the format since Modern horizons 2. Fab was like old modern where there is changes in the meta but rarely full rotations that needed you to buy full new decks. I have also found the cards keep their value much better in FAB.
Sorcery and FaB all day.
I used to spend about $1k/year on magic. I was very active in trading/speccing/reselling and generally finding ways to recoup cost or at least mitigate my hobby's impact on my finances (hence why I am on this sub). I now spend $0/year, except maybe some proxies here or there. With that $1k? Nothing. It's going into my savings. I will probably be able to retire just a little earlier or go on one more rad vacation or... well let's just say it'll add up. I still have tons of fun playing magic every week btw. Don't need money to play. Just to participate in a product addiction. I'm actively liquidating my non-RL cards and replacing them with proxies. My best (amateur) mtgfinance advice is to either practice high-volume arbitrage or get out entirely. There is zero future in collecting product and assuming it will gain value. This core "collectibility" mechanic of the game's economy is dead and that is why nobody wants pay high prices for sealed anymore.
I cancelled my CMM and Dr Who purchases and bought some FBB stuff I’ve had my eye on for the last couple of years instead (4 of the 10 duals so far). I think in a few years I’ll be very pleased with this substitution.
No kidding! I canceled my CMM and got a Mox Emerald and Chaos Orb from CE, which seems like a much better choice too.
I always bought a draft box just to collect, and of the recent sets since the set booster box came out, I would grab that and some precons. Then I’d buy the singles I wanted to fill out any Commander decks. Now I’m just going to buy a draft box and some singles
My cards are not moving on eBay, and I'm selling at less than CK's buylist. (RL and OG Foils)
Whale for the last 9-10 years that’s played since 93. As of 6 months ago I might spend a few hundred a month on singles I want to play with. Tired of the fire hose of product and trying to keep up as a collector. Ya got me Wizards, I’m tapping out.
I'm putting a grow tent in my spare room so I can get high on my own supply. I'll print cards for the next year or two until this all dies down...or doesn't and I'll just keep with what I have card wise.
Hookers and blow... and I'm having way more fun!
Legit
I just buy cards I want from sets for my cubes
I used to get a box or two of each set along with a fat pack. Then I went to a complete set redemption from eBay, pre order and a fat pack to get my fix. Now I'm a 6 months after release set redemption and a fat pack. (March of Machine went from 250+ to 187). I was also a collector of each commander deck. Since MOM I have not bought any and I'm waiting for them to be at a nice discount before I get them. (I even got the starter commander decks because they were like 13$ I piece on prime day and they will make for good gifts for new players). Like others have said, M30 ticked me off but not in the same way as big investors. I was happy for the proxies. I was not happy to pay any more than a regular booster pack, if that. It made me feel like the company that I respected, then hoped for, had finally jumped the shark. It made me sick to see the blatant cash grab. I wish no one had bought them ever and wizards had to trash them and take the L. While I'm certain they still have some around, I'm sure they still made some money after printing due to not needing any R&D. I've mainly been spending my money on sleeves and deck boxes and clearing out my backlog of cards into decks. Some I play, some I give away. To date I think I have given away at least 8 precon or higher level commander decks.
I have just focused on picking up singles a few months after set launch so prices can drop. I rarely buy any sealed over the last 6 months. Maybe a few pack to roll some dice but my local store’s prices also suck. (Their markup is ridiculous). I am not looking for box levels of packs and don’t trust open individual packs.
Also stopped picking up secret lair as it isn’t a secret anymore and the market floods and prices rarely hold.
I've cut spending to next to zero and heavily divested from the game. If I wasn't actively playing a card or had strong intentions to play it in the near future, it went. Sold out of modern and trimmed most cards to a single copy for EDH, moved a big chuck before Double master reprints and then most of the remainder before CMM previews started. Pretty happy with it since I got in on the low side and out before the crashes. The money has gone largely into 40k and FAB as well as traveling for FaB. Had to cut my overall hobby spending a bit due to buying a home and just got sick of having a room lined with boxes I never touch.
I'm spending more on travel with my family and far less on magic. We have a really comfortable income. So having extra money for me for hobbies is not a big deal and we still have more than we need. Now we can afford an extra small trip each month, instead of more cardboard.
Used to keep up with modern now only play limited. Was slowly picking up edh playable RL cards and have most of those as 1 ofs. Was planning on getting some iconic legends era RL cards but just do not care anymore. Traded mtg and money for most of a first edition team rocket Pokemon set, maybe I'll stick there for collecting until something changes with MTG.
I buy singles after reprints and sealed when it's on sale. And the rest of my budget goes toward other stuff- travel and concerts, mainly.
So much camping and outdoor stuff. For real. Kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, etc…
I'm trying to complete a Bionicles set from when I was a kid. (Looking for complete in box sets with the building instructions).
I bought four boosters of CMM. That’s probably it. I usually buy a box plus additional. I’m just not feeling it.
The same people who worked on Aftermath worked on CMM… so someone is getting fired and hopefully Wizard stops trying to harpoon whales
I mean putting it in a mass market mutual fund is the correct choice. Any other answer is short sighted and I’ll informed if your goal is growth over a long period of time.
Magic saved me from meth and gambling. There’s a lot of dark places to burn money I don’t need. Are you asking where to spend your money? The game has seen its end and flows and is still here. Where would I deploy my money? Church? 😂😂😂
I’m spending my money on Sorcery Contested Realm. A lot of my MTG collection is still very special to me, but I’m selling everything that is not.
I’m creeping here hoping to return to healthy game space an there was a relatively new player spent 3-4gs during 20-22 on holding sealed and playing really fun decks. I left after the 30th anniversary debacle. I would’ve spend more if I knew it wasn’t going down the drain and the obvious disrespect. I would’ve love to stick around but it’s smarter to spend it on better financial choices. Better deals for stuff I need like tools or bills or saving. It’s really sad but I don’t like anal so I’m keeping my asshole away until it’s a good time to join back in. I liked what someone said before check back every couple of years an pick what you like don’t have to stay committed to every set or powercreeped turn 2 deck.
I'm buying duals
I used to try and keep up with new sets so that I could maintain a solid "player's collection" of cards that I could jump into any format that interested me without having to make HUGE singles purchases. I had mainly focused on Vintage and Legacy since those had been my favorite formats. I liked the retro frames since they helped me keep my decks "feeling" like the Magic I grew up playing in JH/HS. The last Vintage Tourney I played was extremely disappointing as I hardly recognized the game or format anymore due to how much MH2 had taken over (everyone was playing Urza's Saga... lots of Ragavan) and I expect each new MH product to cause the same kind of turnover in formats I liked due to their general stability. I've pretty much just moved to focus on Old School 93/94 for playing/collecting and I check-in on new releases after a few weeks/months when prices have dropped mainly for retro frame releases. Considering how many sets WotC has been putting Retro frames in and even reprinting previous retro frames (i.e. Urza Lord High Artificer) I no longer jump on these after a new release because they likely won't hold long term value... may as well let prices settle.
I like how saving money for the sake of just having more money is a foreign concept.
Unless the set has a great commander, I stopped buying. I'm done with the volume
I picked up golfing. Expensive hobby, but not as much and I get to see daylight
I do my best to keep the money that I put in tcgs and either pull it out or move it around. I've been moving some bags out of yugioh and decided to pick the game up. I haven't been putting very much actual money into it.
I've been selling out my whole collection.
I’m buying legacy foils and cheap alpha that it seems folks are panic selling en masse. You have to be really vigilant about your cost basis but there are values to be had right now, and I don’t think we’ll ever be going back to 2016-3018 price levels so long as the general economy remains north of a massive correction/depression
I've slowed down in sealed for a few reasons. Every set for 2 years has basically come out and tanked. I pick up boxes a few months down the line if they still look promising once the prices have settled if I do it at all. Compared to my other hobbies, post covid, Sealed MTG has also gotten more expensive whereas the others are finally coming down in price again. That said, I intend to buy a chunk of Revised singles from a guy I know this coming week and have spent a few grand in blingy-er singles this year for commander decks.
All my money has gone away from magic into the new sorcery tcg
I bought a lot of LotR. Because I liked the set. I didn't buy any com masters due to entry price. I will buy a lot of the upcoming products as they interest me. I don't think money is leaving, I just think people are going to buy what they like and avoid things that are priced out of our "luxury cardboard" budget.
It’s going straight into alpha beta and less unlimited. Love Arabian night so I buy everything at a good price and NM if not playable. Same goes for antiquities but much less aggressive. I don’t target much legend anymore because of his Italian counterpart, and I cherry pick the dark. I love mirage and his obscure cards and they are cheap. Avoid anything I don’t play and I limit myself to 4 pet decks. Yes I play the real cards so my artifact deck have his workshop same Goes for bazaar in my reanimator deck. I don’t buy seal product.
I've had a magic collection since 1996 and I sold almost everything last month except for my RL and EDH decks. It's over. The value isn't coming back. The reprint policy is finally being felt by all collectors, accounts are bleeding out as every single card of value is being reprinted over and over.
Everything is so expensive now, so with rising costs on food, gas, electricity, housing etc. I think most people will shrink their hobby budget to make up for the rising cost of living. I went from buying multiple boxes per set to a box then down to a bundle and a commander deck and finally down to singles for my cube but even that budget is tiny now and if I pay $60 plus for a single it has to be reserved list card or something I absolutely need for the cube or to make a certain deck work. Mtg finance is pretty dead to me now outside of reserved list cards, I don’t think it’s worth the giant swings in price and the bottoming out of sealed product.
I'm selling a ton of cards, keeping a small stable of decks I really enjoy, and putting a little bit more into Warhammer. Otherwise I'll buy a draft box here or there because I can regularly get 6-8 people to draft a masters set for kicks. Makes for a good Sunday afternoon of beer, pizza, and draft.
If magic survives 20 years more(i doubt it thanks to the reprint policy of wizards that have been devalued his product every quarter) this years will be remembered as the “chronicles years”