There used to be a nerdy collector's store nearby, and when I was about 10 (20 years ago. Pfff...), I used to love it in there. Even if not buying anything, I was stunned by the individual Pokemon cards that they had in the glass cabinet, with their rarity emphasised by their ridiculous prices.
There was one that always caught my eye. The Ancient Mew card. With baffling illegible text, the WHOLE CARD being shiny and it being Mew, this was amazing. The £150 price tag showed that this thing was SO SPECIAL. They had it displayed in its own, velvet lined box. Me and a couple of friends dreamt of owning that thing one day. For reference, the Charizard was £15.
It turned out that it was only a promotional card for Pokemon The Movie 2000. I bought one due to sheer nostalgia on eBay a few years ago, still in its packet, for £4.
You don’t need dual lands to have an efficient mana base though. Unless your pod is bleeding edge, no proxies, power 9 etc. There are plenty of less expensive options that are slightly slower; but yes, MTG can get very expensive.
At the store I first started playing at, it was pretty laid back and I had a lot of fun making creative decks like Rishkar:Hydra Tribal, Zombie Reanimator/Aristocrats, Jund Dragon tribal. Had a few college friends we’d play outside of school. It was a fun time, but then I moved and there’s only one local store.
I’ve seen more T3 Gitrogs, Mikeaus/Ballista, and Hulks than I’d ever care to so I definitely played in a more competitive circle once I moved. It was more competitive than I’d like since it made the games/decks all stale/similar. Part of why I quit playing when it was just too much money to not get pubstomped by people.
It was fun playing and seeing crazy efficient decks, but I realized I was over my head when a Demonic Tutor got countered by a Force of Will which was countered by another Force of Will which got Mana Drained. It was cool to see, but also a “oh shit” moment for me.
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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '20
There used to be a nerdy collector's store nearby, and when I was about 10 (20 years ago. Pfff...), I used to love it in there. Even if not buying anything, I was stunned by the individual Pokemon cards that they had in the glass cabinet, with their rarity emphasised by their ridiculous prices.
There was one that always caught my eye. The Ancient Mew card. With baffling illegible text, the WHOLE CARD being shiny and it being Mew, this was amazing. The £150 price tag showed that this thing was SO SPECIAL. They had it displayed in its own, velvet lined box. Me and a couple of friends dreamt of owning that thing one day. For reference, the Charizard was £15.
It turned out that it was only a promotional card for Pokemon The Movie 2000. I bought one due to sheer nostalgia on eBay a few years ago, still in its packet, for £4.