If you’ve been into gaming at all within the past fifteen years or so, you’re probably familiar with Magic: the Gathering.  While the first popular collectible card game (CCG) out there has inspired countless other games in the genre over the years, it still remains the most widely played by far.

I used to play a lot of Magic back in the day, but I finally quit a few years ago for the same reason many others do: it’s expensive!  Wizards of the Coast (the company that publishes Magic) has released fifty-one expansions to date, and shows no signs of ever slowing down.  To make sure they have the latest cards, and to be able to qualify for the current tournament format, players typically shell out $100 or more per expansion to get cards from the latest expansion.  Since there are roughly four expansions being released per year at this point, this can add up to a hefty sum pretty quickly.

So I quit.  But I didn’t really quit.

You see, the problem with quitting Magic is that I really enjoy playing it.  There’s a reason it’s lasted for some seventeen years now: it’s an outstanding game!  The problem wasn’t the game — just the cost.  So how can I keep playing a game I enjoy without spending $400 / year to do so?

One option was to just stop buying new cards altogether, and just continue playing with the cards I’d already accumulated over the years.  That’d be great except the majority of the people I play with don’t do that.  Most people want to try out their newest Type II decks to get ready for the next Friday Night Magic tournament or Grand Prix, which means that playing against a deck with older cards, while still a good time, isn’t really what they’re looking for.  And often, the newer cards are more powerful anyway, so the cards in my old collection were going to get a bit stale over time.

So, I’m going to have to buy new cards, but surely there’s a cheaper way.  For me, the answer was these three steps:

1. Only participate in limited formats
2. Play in leagues instead of one-off tournaments
3. Stop collecting the cards!

Limited Formats

If you are familiar with Magic, you’re probably also familiar with the idea of a limited tournament format.  Just in case, I’ll quickly go over the two most common types:

• Sealed – This is where each player gets a certain number of packs of cards, and must construct a deck out of the cards he or she receives.  Players can use as much basic land as they want, but outside of that, they can only use the cards in their packs.
• Draft – All of the players are seated randomly around a table, and just like in sealed, they each receive a certain number of packs (usually three).  At the same time, everybody opens one pack of cards, chooses one to keep, and then passes the rest to the right.  Then they take the cards passed to them, select a card, and pass the rest to the right.  This continues until all of the packs are opened.  Then players create decks from the cards they selected, in the same way they would for a sealed tournament.

Generally, the cost of entry for a limited tournament is going to be higher than a constructed tournament, because you’re not just paying into a prize pool; you get to keep the cards that you open (or draft).  However, the benefit is that everyone is on an even playing field, so someone who has spent a couple hundred dollars on cards from the latest set won’t have the upper hand on someone who just likes to play every now and then.

Limited tournaments are a lot of fun, but if you choose to go this route, you’re still paying on the order of fifteen to twenty dollars every time you want to play in a tournament.  The solution?

Magic Leagues

Magic leagues are by far my favorite way of enjoying the game.  You get the chance to play against a larger group of people, and do so over a longer period of time.  And best of all, it’s one of the most economical ways to play Magic!

The idea is pretty simple.  Just like in a limited tournament format, each player starts by getting a set number of packs.  Then everyone opens them and creates a deck (or you hold a draft if you are playing in that format).

Once everybody has their decks made, players are free to play against whichever other players in the league they want over the course of the leagueweek — which may in fact be longer than a calendar week.  The leagues I’ve played in generally limit players to one match against each other player per week to encourage people to play everyone in the group.  Points are awarded for each win, and generally a small number of points are awarded for losses too.  Again, this is to encourage people to play more, since a loss is worth more points than not playing at all.

At the end of the leagueweek, prizes are generally given to the players with the most points.  Many times, leagues will span multiple leagueweeks, with players getting an additional pack after each week to let them tune their decks.  This allows the pool of decks in the league to evolve slowly without losing the continuity of the league.  This basically goes on until people want to try a brand new deck, or usually until the next expansion comes out.

The beauty of leagues is that for about the same cost as a single limited tournament, you can generally get a couple weeks worth of play time in.  And if you’re in a league that spans multiple leagueweek, then you’re only out the cost of a single pack for each new week!  It’s definitely worth trying if you’ve never had the opportunity before.

Stop collecting cards

Ah, and now the real key to playing Magic cheaply.  Years ago, when I was playing Magic the most heavily, I probably had a collection of about three thousand cards.  I was buying a booster box for each new expansion, and then there would be the packs that would come from winning tournaments at the FLGS.  Looking back, not only was it a hassle to keep up with this many cards — it didn’t even make any sense!

It’s tempting to keep all the cards you get, because hey, you might get lucky and open what turns out to be the next Black Lotus (which last time I checked can sell for well over two thousand dollars).  Just give it a few years, and who knows what it could be worth?

Well, I’m here to spoil your fun.  The cards you’re opening now are never, ever going to be worth what the Power Nine or any of the other ultra-powerful cards from way back when are worth.  There are two reasons for this:

• Those cards are in limited supply.  When they were printed, Wizards of the Coast were selling a small fraction of the number of cards that they are selling today.
• Those cards broke the game, and Wizards fixed it.  The cards that are worth the most are the ones that were printed before they fully understood the mechanics of the game themselves.  With all of the money that’s at stake now with the Pro Tour and other tournaments around the world, they are very careful not to allow the same game-breaking mistakes to creep into the game again.  Sure, there are some “broken” cards that get printed once in a while, but nothing like the Moxes, Ancestral Recall, or Library of Alexandria.

So, once you’re done with your cards, just sell them back.  Most stores that sell Magic cards will also buy the singles back from you so that they can resell them.  There are usually only a few rares that are worth more than a couple of dollars, but that still add up fast.  And then you can use the money to buy into the next tournament or league.  Or even toward another game.

But there’s a trick to selling cards back too: when is the best time to sell the cards back?  The answer is that cards are worth the most while they are still legal for Type II tournaments.  So, if you save all of your cards until they go out of rotation, you’re probably not going to get anything for them.

This is the other advantage to playing in limited formats.  If you’re playing in constructed, then you may need to hold on to your cards until they go out of rotation, because you will probably still want to use them for tournament decks.  If you’re playing limited exclusively, then there’s no reason to keep cards once the tournament or league is over.  Cash them in!

The Bottom Line

Magic: the Gathering is a great game that has achieved a large following because of its high quality, but it can also suck away a lot of your money.  However, if you stick to limited formats and/or join a league, you can still enjoy the new sets as they come out without having to spend a lot to stay competitive.  And if you sell the cards back to the store (or to others who are still into constructed play), then you can get most of your money back.  If you’re lucky and open one of the new Mythic Rares, who knows?  You may even make a profit!