I started playing Magic the Gathering (MTG) in 2017. My introductory experience was my local game store's final draft of Hour of Devastation. Each card I drafted was a portal into a whole new world, each a treasure in my newfound collection. As I went on, I soon discovered that the most popular but still up-and-coming way of playing magic was Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH), and I soon cobbled together whatever I could to make a 100-card deck. Each draft then took on a new purpose, as it meant new cards to trade and play with and new cards for my EDH deck.
As time passed and I learned more from my playgroup, I soon realized that this was not the way to get into MTG at all. Most of the cards for EDH are incredibly old and rare, so you are unlikely to pull them in any new packs. The mantra from MTG "Influencers" and from local players to this problem was to simply "Buy Singles!"
Indeed, if you want to get into Magic as quickly and efficiently as possible, it would be wise to look up the staples for each format, find an optimized deck list, save up, and buy the deck from the heavily promoted Card Kingdom or popular TCGPlayer. There is obviously no fault in doing this, and for many who simply want to get in and play this game of dancing cardboard that we all love so much, this is the best way to go. However, something I will suggest, and what the premise of this blog will be, is that something is lost when going about the hobby this way.
Magic as Trading Card Game
I stopped playing Magic around the infamous year of 2020 AD, with War of the Spark and Core Set 2020 being the last two sets I remember intensely studying to draft. Shortly after those sets, I sold my EDH and Standard decks, each worth around $500 at the time. Throughout my years of playing Magic, I probably made three or four trades, and the rest of my card acquisitions were either from cards that I drafted, which I usually sold, or cards that I bought. The trades that I did make were some of the most exciting moments of my time playing MTG, and each card that I traded for took on a much more sentimental value. If we think for a moment about what the game is, this is rather odd and seemingly artificial. After all, Magic the Gathering is, at its core, a trading card game. Now, it is expected that with such a large and popular game like MTG, a market would form around the cards, reflecting the rarity and playability of each piece. But this deserves asking whether a core component of what makes this form of entertainment fun is taken away by an artificially imposed way of acquiring cards.
Are not the cards we play within a trading card game supposed to have some sentimental value rather than a mere monetary one? Surely our collections that we play with should remind us of our own personal journeys with the game, our different exchanges and stories forged with each card and the memories enshrined within each piece? Much of this is lost in our day when all a card has become is a type of fancy dollar bill, a monetary value attached to a pretty picture representing an action in the game.
To the competitive spirit, these musings may fall on deaf ears. I understand these types of people and consider myself a competitive player. I love the feeling that a high-level, competitive magic game can provide. However, this intense play can be found in the sleek online versions of Magic that are popular today. What exactly sets paper Magic apart from Arena or MTGO? If one was playing just for the feeling of competition, online Magic provides this and removes a lot of the annoying aspects of paper Magic as well. I can get a competitive rush similar to the one I get from Paper Magic by playing Standard on Arena. What paper Magic should provide, is exactly the sentimentality previously mentioned, the physical collection one can gain, and the social tapestry woven through trades and tales?
The Inspiration Behind This Blog
I decided to get back into Magic the Gathering after my good friend (a person one would never expect to get into TCGs), as if randomly inspired by a dream, got obsessed with the game Lorcana. He soon amassed a collection worth over $3000 by simply pulling great cards in packs and strategically collecting and trading without buying any singles. His experience with this new game reminded me of my nascent days playing Magic and the original aspirations attached to it. I decided to get back into MTG, but if I was going to, I would do so at a slower pace and with limitations that keep the original aspects of this form of entertainment intact. All of this has been my reasoning behind the following Magic manifesto dubbed "Magic from Zero," which shall show the principles guiding my journey starting back in Magic the Gathering from zero cards.
The Principles
#1- No singles may be bought with real-world currency or trade credit, whether that be from local shops, online stores, or individual persons.
#2- Each card must be either pulled in a pack, acquired by drafting/playing in events, obtained from another official sealed product, or traded for with another individual (no trading cards to shops as a way to buy singles for store credit)
This is excluding basic land editions that are commonly seen as having little to no value
#3-Packs can only be bought with real-world currency if:
I. For use in a Limited format (Prerelease, Sealed, Draft)
II. If bought with store credit won by winning an Event
#4-Events can only be played with decks constructed by my own cards but can be in any format, from Standard to EDH to Draft.
~MF0
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