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Playing magic the gathering.
To play at the level many people play at requires knowledge of hundreds or even thousands of cards and it's very difficult to play correctly because of the complexity of the game. Furthermore, the game pieces are at times ridiculously expensive and are often acquired by gambling, so it's very easy to waste way too much money if you aren't careful.
My buddy wanted me to get into magic so I bought a bunch of starter packs booster packs blah blah blah blah blah
I'm very thankful that he completely shredded me with a specialist deck that he had been slowly acquiring over the course of 5 years. I mean he beat me like a Persian rug on Nowruz
Made me realize that as much as there is a skill component, underlying it all... it is pay to win.
I'm really thankful he showed that to me, it made me realize I have zero interest.
It definitely can be pay to win although I don't spend much on it and have good success. But I've been playing for decades and consider myself a pretty skilled player. I also use proxies, basically printed out images in place of real cards, especially for new decks where I'm not sure I want to spend money on them yet.
That said, your friend didn't give you a good introduction. Your friend should have done more to help you build a solid deck and to match the power level of his deck to yours. I have many decks of different power levels for this reason, and I think good etiquette is to bring a deck that's near the power level of your opponent's, especially if they're new.
Also, buying packs isn't the best way to start out. Probably best to have a friend build you a deck or if that's not an option or to buy a precon. Most of the cards you get in packs are bad and no one really plays with them, so if you put those in your deck, you aren't going to have much success.
Or, just decide the game isn't for you. That's also valid!
I know what you're saying but I disagree with your underlying point.
Although it is completely poor form and bad instruction to destroy somebody in a game that you're introducing them to, he did me a huge favor by revealing the underlying flaw.
I am not trying to insult your hobby, people are allowed to spend money on things, but success is not possible without cards that you paid good money for and I'm not going to play a game like that. I know deep down that you also know deep down this is true.
Yeah, it's kind of a weird hobby that way. I don't get how people can see the problem with loot boxes but be enthusiastic Magic players... people have extensive criticism of monetization of video games, but when it comes to trading card games: absolute crickets.
Well a lot of us do think the gambling aspect is problematic, which is why I mentioned it in my initial comment. I just think it's a fun game but I can think that while also wishing certain aspects were different.
Dude what are you talking about? People are constantly ranting about loot boxes and taking shots at valve.
It's fine for you to like your hobby, but don't go off the rails and try to justify it. I'm not criticizing the pay to win nature, but you can't do whataboutism in your defense of it.
I'm really not arguing with you though, you are completely allowed to like your hobby, there's nothing wrong with it even if that means spending money. It's just not for me for that reason, that's all.
I don't know if you read me correctly. I'm saying people see the obvious problems with loot boxes, but have no problem with the same mechanic in the physical form of a card deck.
The disconnect seems kinda weird.
I'm just asking for consistency.
This is where you are very confused.
Your argumentation comes from the perspective of whataboutism.
Ironically, you strengthen my underlying point and you weaken yours. I am making the point that your game is pay to win which is why I do not want to play it.
You are arguing a different point, which is that you feel it's justified for you to play the game and spend money on it, because other people spend money on other pay to win games.
This is fine for you to enjoy your game but it's specious reasoning. You do not need another random person to justify your spending on your game, it's just not for me, enjoy your hobby my friend.
Hm. I don't play either type of games, so not really clear where you're getting my advocacy from. Maybe you're confusing me with the other person in this conversation I butted myself into with my random observation?
This thread was wild lol
Elucidate me then. What are the significant differences between video game loot boxes and a sealed pack of Pokemon?
I'm not going to have a conversation with the music box in your head.
When I was in high school I played. Then I stopped playing for years. Recently took a look and im like....wtf are these collabs now? Not a bad thing but I dont even know the rules like commander anymore.
It's super fun if you're into it but yeah it takes a lot to stay on top of all the new cards nowadays.
Commander is the best thing to happen to magic though since it is a multiplayer format and it's now easier to play with friends.
No because it drove my collection I sold for a couple hundred to insane prices. I'd probably have about 20k if instill had them.
Still kicking myself.
Lot of the revised through nemesis cards, some mercadoan masks. Even those old. Commons shot up in price
Stopped playing MTG in college, recently a friend tried to get me back into it but I had to tell them I can’t afford it.
Yep. Saw how much my friends were spending on it and decided I prefer eating daily meals to playing Magic.
Fair. Proxying has become increasingly accepted over time though, so as long as you clear it with your friend, that's a very affordable way to play.
Cockatrice is a free program that allows you to play MTG with friends online.
There's no way to play single player, it's strictly multiplayer. But it is a free way to play the game with someone.
I used to say this until I got into cube. Cubes are super fun, don’t cost anything for the other players (and not much for the owner depending on the cards), totally remove the issues around the meta, and only require that players are familiar with the game and a few hundred cards (or less, I have a 2-4 player cube with only about 45 unique cards that’s a ton of fun). Still not for everyone but it has made me willing to recommend my favorite game to anyone who I think will like it.
If you stick to they type 2 format. Starting out it can be easy to get into. But playing against someone like me who's been collecting since 95 it can't be fun. And even then older decks are just broken.
I haven't played for awhile sort of took a break and don't have time to get to tournaments anymore. I'll play arena on occasion but I no longer spend money.
Commander became popular after I sort of got out of magic but still read and built decks.
Commander van be pretty fun. Even if you make a deck with no chance of winning but just fucks with everyone
I’m in the process of selling off a shit ton of old cards. I bought them around when the game first started. I’d say they’d be from around 1994ish? I have two of those card holder containers full of them.
Since you seem to know a lot about this, what would you recommend is the best place to go to evaluate their worth??
I don't have any direct experience selling collections but there's a few ways you can go about it. The simplest is to go into a local card shop and see what they offer. You might want to read reviews because there is a risk they could low-ball you since it doesn't sound like you have a clear idea of the value. It might be a good idea to visit a few different shops and see what they offer, but if you have thousands of cards and don't know which are valuable, they won't be able to give you a precise value since they're not going to spend hours sorting until after they buy the collection. With old cards they can be worth anywhere from ten cents to hundreds or even thousands of dollars. So if the valuable cards are hiding amongst the worthless ones, it's hard to accurately assess value without doing that sorting.
If you have cards from the earliest editions, you may want to at least go through and look for some of the most valuable cards to exist, which are the power 9, and dual lands. You can find a list online, these are 19 cards that are extremely valuable due to their rarity and power. If you have any of these they can be worth more than the rest of the cards combined, so pulling them out and selling them separately would definitely be worthwhile.
If you have more time and the number of cards isn't too overwhelming you can also go through and enter them all into a collection manager: I use https://archidekt.com/ but there are many options. Then it will tell you which ones are worth money. Most of the value is typically in a small number of cards, and the rest can be sold as "bulk" for basically pennies. Once you have an inventory you can check with online collection buyers to see what offers you can get.
Keep in mind that when you look at prices online or in a collection manager, you'll see what cards sell for, but you won't necessarily get that price as a seller. They offer you lower prices so they can make a profit, but if it seems too low you can shop around.
Fantastic info! Thank you so much for the time and patience to write all of that out. Very appreciated.
And don't just forget about commons. Some had a huge price spike because the demand for singles for commander skyrocketted
I edited it just now so check out the parts I added. If you were near me I'd offer to help go through it. Looking through old collections is fun. Kinda like gold panning!
I’m in Seattle WA, and yeah. This is overwhelming.
Ah I'm in California so no dice! Let me know if you find any of those expensive cards I mentioned so I can have some vicarious excitement. It's probably not super likely since they were only sold to very early adopters in I think 1993. But you never know!
Nope! Appreciate the offer though.
I can second this. I've been playing for 23 years now, I picked it up at 7 from my cool uncle and have never really put it down for more than a release or two. I'm more than happy to proxy every card out there and I'm an ardent opponent of gatekeeping the game with money, but I also recognize that a lot of people just aren't cut out for the game itself. Hell, most dedicated players aren't cut out for it.
Proxying is the way to go if you have concerns about cost, for sure.
And that’s before even mentioning Hasbro…