The time has finally come.
You can see from the dust on the box that these haven't ben touched for a while. Bought 'em from an old buddy about 4 years ago for a cool hundred bucks.
We used to play Magic all the time when I was in high school. I was obsessed with it. Nice tight playgroup of 3-6 people, depending on the night/day/lunchroom. We would organize groups to go to the LGS, an old, stuffy, cramped 50 miles away, to play in sanctioned tournaments.
These were "John"'s cards. Not a very strong player, cocked his head at a lot of the rules and interactions, always too easy to trade with. I am sure he rifled through these when I bought them and pulled all of the money cards, but I was all right with that. It was nice to catch up.
The time has come.
I have, at this point, approximately 1.8 million Magic: The Gathering cards in a very loose and poorly organized collection, and as a renter, am running out of space to keep them. I no longer have a daily/weekly/tournament playgroup, as there is little to no time to dedicate to what once used to be my only love. Kids, girlfriend, job, a couple of dogs and a garden, and the world of crypto have been soaking up nearly all of my time. The time has come to sell them.
Overflow has creeped into the corner of our bedroom.
Now, this won't be the first time I sold out. Not even close. No, the first time was the worst of all. I needed money for gas and food during my stay at an out-of-town University, and I had some cardboard to trade for cash. I sold a collection that, by today's valuation, would be worth about 400,000 USD in unplayed condition. Moxen, playsets and playsets of revised duals, Juzam Djinns, Libraries, 3 copies of Time Walk. A pretty beat up Alpha black lotus and a really beat up Unlimited black lotus.
I sold it for 550 bucks in 1997. I got a decent deal at the time. As much as I regret it today, I do not regret being able to eat at college. Deperate times, and all...
There have been 2 other sell-outs, but none quite so devastating as the first. This time, it will buy us a house.
And to be honest, I won't be tearing apart any decks. They stay with me. Probably the hardest lesson I didn't learn was to keep the decks you built.
So I have decided to log this event as it unfolds here. I will be starting by listing "John"'s cards across a couple different market places over the next week. Shipping is gonna be a bitch, But I already have a top level TCGplayer account with 100% positive feedback, so moving the cards wont be an issue. I'll keep you guys posted, but moreso just to be able to look back and re-live the first time I sold my collection the RIGHT way.