Hi guys I'm curious what do foil cards mean to you and why do you love to have them? Do you like them to bling out your decks or simple love collecting them because of the beautiful foil arts? Any other reasons? I personally love them to collect because the foil effect in certain arts just look amazing and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling looking through my foil collection folio. Sometimes for commander I also like to give my deck a little bling especially for a commander as there's just something special about having your commander in shiny foil.
I used to not care about them until maybe a year/year and a half ago when I started trying to (slowly) foil out a few edh decks. now its turned into trying to get foils for modern too. so it's kinda turned into something a bit more expensive
I love pulling a high end foil, I don't play them but I can trade them away in a heartbeat. during Khans block i had really good luck pulling foil fetches, that allowed me to get my playsets of the nonfoils
that's all foils are to me, easy trade value
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Project Booster Fun makes it less fun to open a booster.
To me, they're just good trade bait. I want to complete the decks I'm working on so I can play the optimized list. Don't care if the cards are regular or foil. If I can trade a foil for 2 regulars, that makes me happy. If I can sell a foil to pay for half my deck, that makes me even happier!
I'm in the "they're annoying and I trade them away" crowd. However, I do keep a few as "trophies", usually cards I really like and pull at tournaments.
An annoyance. I can't stand them. At best, they're a trade bait bonus if I get something decent. Otherwise, they sit in a box taking up space since no one wants a foil random ***** tier common.
Foils to me are extra beauty for my deck. If I love a deck enough, I will foil out every possible card. (My ABUR duals in Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, for instance, are not foil...) I was so happy when the C16 decks had foil generals!
Right now, my pet deck is Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, and having a non-foil general would have made me sad.
Foil Wheel of Sun and Moon is one of the most beautiful cards I have ever seen. Foil Avacyn, Angel of Hope? Foils are just extra pretty, and more beauty in my life is always a good thing!
I would sleeve a deck in 100 foil Razor Boomerangs like you wouldn't believe.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Foils are much harder to counterfeit than other cards. The market isn't big enough, the tests are easier, and the printing process is complex. As the Reserve List forces certain cards' prices through the roof, the foils will go up even faster since it's much easier to prove that they're genuine. The market for cards like dual lands and Grim Monolith is being quietly depressed by massive counterfeiting operations.
Foils are obviously genuine and that's what gives them particular value. This is especially true of older cards and reserve list foils.
I would never pay extra for a foil, I'm cheap, so they usually just end up being traded away or sold. Not that I don't like them, I just wouldn't case them. The crap ones usually end up getting the foil layer ripped off, then I print proxies or customs tokens on them.
I really love alternate art promos or different art from another set in my decks. However, if there are only 2-3 artworks for a given card, I like to get a foil original art to round out my playset.
Most beautiful foil has to be Wild Nacatl. The foil gives it an amazing 3D effect.
I used to be in the 'what are they good for'-camp but recently, I've changed my mind.
It started with the expeditions. I really like full-art and official alternative art (but NOT homemade. Don't draw on my cards, bro) and from there it was a slippery slope. :S
I'm still torn though, 'cause I absolutely despise the way they curl.
I wanted to quote this specifically because this is how it worked for me too. I used to think it was just an extra waste of money (pay $10 for this old foil or $2 for nonfoil?) but after foiling out all of my Shock Lands and Battle Lands in all my EDH decks with Expedition foils, I started getting more and more into wanting to foil out a few decks. Ultimately, I want to foil out 9 of my 12 decks (the others were built to either try something different or answer certain things in my meta so I don't see them sticking around) and I have 4 decks on my immediate list to foil out.
I have almost gotten my Alesha, Who Smiles and Death deck fully foiled. I am just missing Vamp Tutor, Miren, the Moaning Well, and Recruiter of the Guard right now. I just picked up the 5 Expedition fetches I need for the deck (though I am contemplating cutting Windswept Heath) last night and found a seller selling a foil Academy Rector that I picked up. And, because they are cheaper for now, my "pimp" duals are Unlimited Duals as opposed to Revised.
I might one day get beta or FBB Duals, but I actually kind of like them being the only white bordered cards in my deck as it makes them easier to search for. So, other than the 3 duals, there are 5 cards that I can't foil and only 2 of those are Reserved so maybe one day...
When I play the deck, I do like the aesthetic of having everything be "shiny" and it has made me appreciate some older land arts as my basics are from Invasion and 7th Edition and they look very nice in foil.
The curling, while an issue, seems to have been mitigated by double sleeving. None of the cards in my deck stand out from others due to curling. They all lay flat.
As an aside; I also hate alters and signed cards for the same reason you stated; don't draw (or write) on my cards
The only foils I get are the ones with a different art that i like more than the original. I'm also a collector, so i'll get the masterpieces but besides that, just trade them for other stuff i need or the non foil version. If the foiling was done like in YGO that would be a different story
I'm a huge fan of foils. I won't pay a significant amount of extra money for one, but if I open it or it's only a few cents more, I'll jam it in any deck using the card. It doesn't bother me to only have a few cards foiled.
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I use a lot of usernames for some reason, so if you see this person, it's me: Twitch: Artificier10 MTGO and Discord: PollenProphet
To me they're the next step in customizing and upgrading a deck that I've collected all the cards to complete, and finding foils for a deck continues to give me something to look forward to. For the decks I really love, it's a labor of love. It takes a long time to collect more expensive, high end foils, so it becomes a long term project where doing stuff like getting that foil Ugin, the Spirit Dragon or my first foil Unhinged Plains felt really great! I always double sleeve and usually don't have to worry about boils curving or anything. But when I pick a deck to foil out, of course it feels cool getting reactions to stuff like Judge Promos or the full art Damnation promo that not many people know about at this point. It can lead to stories and telling people something they don't know about Magic, such as about the old MPR program.
Never used to care until about a year ago. Had a friend who basically only got foils. Decided to try it and now I almost always get foils of what I buy. Kinda addicted to it now.
What about you guys?
They curl most unpleasantly.
If I can get a card not in foil, I absolutely will.
that's all foils are to me, easy trade value
Modern - Burn
EDH - Neheb the Eternal
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
So every foil has some "story" to it and i will almost always remember where i got the precious card.
This gives all the cards some value that will always be a part of yourself.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Receives 100 Foil Razor Boomerangs...
"DAMNIT!"
Foils to me are extra beauty for my deck. If I love a deck enough, I will foil out every possible card. (My ABUR duals in Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, for instance, are not foil...) I was so happy when the C16 decks had foil generals!
Right now, my pet deck is Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, and having a non-foil general would have made me sad.
Foil Wheel of Sun and Moon is one of the most beautiful cards I have ever seen. Foil Avacyn, Angel of Hope? Foils are just extra pretty, and more beauty in my life is always a good thing!
So, yes, umm, foils are my guilty pleasure.
I think I'd be happier with them if the foiling was restricted to just the picture.
Reading foiled text is frustrating and they stand out way too much.
I would sleeve a deck in 100 foil Razor Boomerangs like you wouldn't believe.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I can see an argument for foiling out your EDH commander because it is a special card. Anywhere else it looks tacky unless you foil the entire deck.
Foils are obviously genuine and that's what gives them particular value. This is especially true of older cards and reserve list foils.
https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/p420
Most beautiful foil has to be Wild Nacatl. The foil gives it an amazing 3D effect.
I have almost gotten my Alesha, Who Smiles and Death deck fully foiled. I am just missing Vamp Tutor, Miren, the Moaning Well, and Recruiter of the Guard right now. I just picked up the 5 Expedition fetches I need for the deck (though I am contemplating cutting Windswept Heath) last night and found a seller selling a foil Academy Rector that I picked up. And, because they are cheaper for now, my "pimp" duals are Unlimited Duals as opposed to Revised.
I might one day get beta or FBB Duals, but I actually kind of like them being the only white bordered cards in my deck as it makes them easier to search for. So, other than the 3 duals, there are 5 cards that I can't foil and only 2 of those are Reserved so maybe one day...
When I play the deck, I do like the aesthetic of having everything be "shiny" and it has made me appreciate some older land arts as my basics are from Invasion and 7th Edition and they look very nice in foil.
The curling, while an issue, seems to have been mitigated by double sleeving. None of the cards in my deck stand out from others due to curling. They all lay flat.
As an aside; I also hate alters and signed cards for the same reason you stated; don't draw (or write) on my cards
Twitch: Artificier10
MTGO and Discord: PollenProphet
BWEldrazi and TaxesBW
GWUKnightfallGWU
UBRGrixis ShadowUBR
(Also known as Xenphire)
but then you have your decks and you don't want to get new ones so instead you go looking for foils.
In my case it is for my peasent cube.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own