People are addicted to cards now?

[RikAllen]

Better cards than drugs, of course you probably wouldn't tolerate a four hour wait for drugs...maybe this addiction is stronger .

I actually spent a good amount of time between 4 and 8 yesterday scripting a new effect...so I feel just as accomplished as someone who ordered new cards!

 

[S.G]

I think an aspect that hasn't really been addressed yet is that when you get your hands on any of these decks and they go out of print the resell value of the deck increases. Sometimes drastically.

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it because yeah, the company might sell all their units right away but after that they are forcing people who still want their product to pay OTHER people for that product at an INFLATED PRICE. Like every transaction that goes on like that is a sale that they could have had. Why force a customer to pay someone else 15 dollars (that you won't see) for your product when they could have just given you that money and got more product? Sounds win win to me.

Yeah, while that makes sense, you have to look at the other side too. If the companies' decks hadn't been so expensive on the second market, the decks that they release wouldn't be so rare. So by making decks limited, the companies are almost advertising themselves on the second market. I buy the "rare" and "limited" decks from companies because I know that they will sell out soon and be far more expensive later.

Either way, the company wins.

 

[Randy]

I remember a year or so ago that Brad Christian tried to pull the analogy of somebody liking the Mona lisa because "it's just a painting on some paper.". Which at the time made SOME sense, all though it doesn't apply to playing. The Mona-lisa isn't mass produced and in the hands of 15 year old's everywhere.

The other problem with his analogy still holds true. With something like the Mona-lisa being a painting, even people who aren't art critics can appreciate it's value. With playing cards.. Good luck trying to convince your friends that the 30 bucks you spent on cards was a good idea.

My personal opinion is this, what's the point of collecting something if nobody else is going to be able to appreciate it? Most other collectables still have some value to them and people can still understand why you collected it (depending on what it is.). Trading cards can be shown off, Baseball cards can be shown. Comic Books can be shown off and hell even your DVD collection can be shown off and appreciated on some level by most people.

Try doing that with a deck cards that might have a neat design and the chances are you'll just get laughed at.

 

[ChrisWiens]

I never understood the fascination with props.
It`s fine to have nice looking props, but in the end, they`re just tools.

There`s a well-known quote that`s often used in other art-forms as well
"It`s not the tool, it`s the artist!"

 

[eostresh]

My personal opinion is this, what's the point of collecting something if nobody else is going to be able to appreciate it? Most other collectables still have some value to them and people can still understand why you collected it (depending on what it is.). Trading cards can be shown off, Baseball cards can be shown. Comic Books can be shown off and hell even your DVD collection can be shown off and appreciated on some level by most people.

Try doing that with a deck cards that might have a neat design and the chances are you'll just get laughed at.

I really have had no issue with anyone so far who has indicated they are not into playing card collecting. To each their own. However, the the above statement is completely fallacious(except for the bit about your opinion). Indeed playing card collections are exactly that. Something to show off. I can guarantee you that if you showed me your comic book collection I would have exactly zero interest in it. Collections of all sorts serve to please the collectors themselves and other like minded individuals. People who could care less about baseball cards could give a flip about a Honus Wagner card until you point out its value. People who are not into modern art would probably think a shark floating a tank of formaldehyde is a simple taxidermy display until you tell them what it is worth. And in the same breath most people would mistake a USPCC Norwood 85 as just an old deck until you point out that it is worth 2 grand.

You seem to be trying to make an argument that somehow card collecting is more ridiculous than other forms of collecting. While I won't refute the fact that it is a fairly meaningless pursuit the flaw in your argument is that Comic book collecting, Art collecting, and baseball card collecting are also meaningless. The value is entirely in the eye of the beholder. Honus Wagner's baseball card is, in the end of the day, a piece of paper.

 

[etherealictrinity]

it goes with every hobby, if you play guitar you want the newest amp the newest guitar the newest paddle if you skate you want new shoes new skateboards ect. the only difference is a good guitar costs hundreds and a skateboard will cost a couple hundred as well so this is just the same except a new deck of cards costs 6 bucks and therefore are purchased in large amounts. In reality it is perfectly normal and everyone is victim to their greed.

 

[JButterfield]

Reminds me of the comic book boom & bust in the 90s. Or Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Or any other artificially created scarcity that drives an instant collectables market with little sustainability.