Way Back When

I first got into Magic in the eighth grade. A peer had cards out one morning during homeroom, and I was intrigued. This was back when colorless mana meant it could be used for any color (or so I was told by this guy). It was fall of 1997. I had tried the game and was hooked. Throughout the rest of middle school and all throughout high school, I was a Magic player.

College began the same. Most of the guys I had played Magic with through high school were still in school, while I began commuting to college. We’d hit up Friday Night Magic and kept in touch. During the four years I was in college, the flame began to fade. I became disenchanted. I was spending money on cards, and playing in little Friday night tournaments.

I probably bought a single pack of Scourge, and that was it. I sold a stack of (~100) cards and made almost a thousand dollars. I kept my other cards, figuring I would build decks and play casually, but no longer seeking rares and tearing packs. I played from Tempest (1997) to Scourge (2003), and then hung up my armor.

Party Like It’s 2009

Time went on. I’d play Magic casually with my brother and cousins. Then, early summer 2009, my brother gave me a call:

Himself: Hey Ryan, Magic 2010 is coming out in a couple of weeks.

Myself: But it’s 2009.

Him: Yeah, they’re releasing one every year: 2010 in 2009, 2011 in 2010, 2012 in 2011, and so on.

Me: So they’ll have those instead of the Editions?

Him: Right.

Me: Sounds too frequent.

Him: They’re changing up some of the rules, too. No more mana burn, and combat damage doesn’t stack.

Me: So you can’t attack with a Mogg Fanatic, stack combat damage, and then sacrifice him for another point?

Him: Nope, not under the revised rules.

Me: Huh.

For whatever reason, that’s all it took. The cogs began to turn. I could play Magic again, I thought. As a birthday present to myself, I pre-ordered two booster boxes of M10. I was ready to jump back into the fray. Unlike high school and college, where I was living with a limited, part-time-job income, I now had a full-time salary, which meant I could comfortably allocate resources towards playing again.

I’ll be honest: I’ve spent a lot of money over these past nine months. Everything from buying boxes of new product, to acquiring playset after playset of singles over eBay. Standard, Extended, Legacy — even some Vintage (sorry, no Power 9).

Enter Mentor

Getting back into Magic, I stumbled across others on Twitter who shared the love of the game. There was one individual in particular whom I began conversing with. I was awestruck by his trading power. It was Jonathan Medina, producer of MTG Metagame. Through scouring his archives, and through conversation, I came to find that he does not contribute additional money to Magic: everything is acquired through a combination of trading, selling, and taking money made from selling to buy. I was blown away. I never really thought it was plausible; to acquire all you need to play competitively without pitching in more cash.

So Here We Are

What they say is true: your love for Magic doesn’t die. You will continue to thirst. My time with Magic has been born again. This time around, I plan on being financially smarter about it.

I will write about the journey I am taking here: to learn the way of the master trader. I write to document my progress. I write in hopes that maybe my experiences will help a fellow player in one way or another — be it learning from my successes, or my mistakes.