I remember one day one of our Magic crew got a girlfriend who came with us to the store once. He ended up buying a card for around $100 bucks or so for his commander deck and she said, "I don't get it, it's just a piece of cardboard."
Now I, back when I thought women were genuine and rational, tried to explain to her that this guy had loads of disposable income and that Magic is a "buy once cry once" hobby. I also said to her it's kinda like buying an expensive blouse or whatever -- it's not that you need it, it's that you want it, and everyone spends their money on something.
She looked at me like I just took a shit on her carpet. "It's cardboard" she said.
Cue like 6 months later, they broke up and whenever we get the chance to play Magic these days, he still plays with that card. This happened like 10 years ago and that card is $900 now. (https://starcitygames.com/gaeas-cradle-sgl-mtg-usg-321-enn/)
Covid and inflation absolutely fucked the Magic community. Commander was ostensibly the casual deckbuilding format and now it's thousands+ for a "proper" deck. One of the many reasons I stopped collecting.
That was by design. EDH was fun community homebrew rules. The moment it got made "official," the writing was on the wall. It was going to eventually be the same shit show as everything else WotC/Hasbro touches. Not to say that covid and inflation didn't play a part.
I remember one day one of our Magic crew got a girlfriend who came with us to the store once. He ended up buying a card for around $100 bucks or so for his commander deck and she said, "I don't get it, it's just a piece of cardboard."
Now I, back when I thought women were genuine and rational, tried to explain to her that this guy had loads of disposable income and that Magic is a "buy once cry once" hobby. I also said to her it's kinda like buying an expensive blouse or whatever -- it's not that you need it, it's that you want it, and everyone spends their money on something.
She looked at me like I just took a shit on her carpet. "It's cardboard" she said.
Cue like 6 months later, they broke up and whenever we get the chance to play Magic these days, he still plays with that card. This happened like 10 years ago and that card is $900 now. (https://starcitygames.com/gaeas-cradle-sgl-mtg-usg-321-enn/)
Covid and inflation absolutely fucked the Magic community. Commander was ostensibly the casual deckbuilding format and now it's thousands+ for a "proper" deck. One of the many reasons I stopped collecting.
That was by design. EDH was fun community homebrew rules. The moment it got made "official," the writing was on the wall. It was going to eventually be the same shit show as everything else WotC/Hasbro touches. Not to say that covid and inflation didn't play a part.