I’ve been trying to cull down my Magic collection for years.
I once had a collection that was around 30,000 cards and now I have it in a bit more of a manageable size… but I want to get it down into a SET size: one binder for each color with no more than 500 cards in it. Much of the internet advice talks about systems for sorting cards or whether they use binders or boxes to store their collection. I’m not looking for that kind of advice. I’m looking for tips on how to maintain a curated collection of the best cards, how you determine which cards to rotate out of your collection (assume that all of them are good), and how you judiciously add cards.
Like many of you, I’ve been playing magic for a long, long time. I no longer wish to maintain and organize a closet full of card stock. You can spend too much time and money sorting, organizing, and managing a collection than actually playing it. WotC is pumping out more cards and sets than ever before, so I want to slow down my acquisition of cards so that I get to actually play the ones I already have.
So I’m looking for advice on how you decide to keep your collection — if you do — within certain boundaries. Do you have a system? Do you have binders or boxes and say, “I will keep what can fit within these and no more”?
Thank you in advance for any thoughtful feedback! I appreciate your time.
Something like https://edhrec.com/commanders , you can use to have an idea what cards are quite common in specific Commanders.
As a bunch of cards are very specific for a theme, like lifegain, thats the odd-balls of cards that are not generally good.
The https://edhrec.com/top list is of cards that are somewhat omni-present, if people play that color chances are they use these cards too, at least in a "casual" themed EDH deck.
For cEDH the list of relevant cards is even smaller, but some odd-balls are also super specific for a metagame.
In general i keep a "box" of cards sleeved that i regard as playable, thats better than a binder, as a box fits way more cards than a binder.
A binder i reserve for expensive cards , 50+ bucks, and its the stuff i dont have in any trade binders either, as thats just a risk to get them stolen or lost.
For decks i also proxy anything thats too expensive with colored prints, as having too much money on you is just a risk.
I mostly either just Buylist the cards I plan on cutting from my Commander collection to my Local Game Store (LGS) for Store Credit or recycle them at home so that the paper can be re-used. Not enough people recycle their own paper and plastic materials nowadays especially with climate change / global warming becoming a major concern with a lot of people and for good reason. I used to have tons of grocery bags and shoe boxes full of cards that I've waited to use for my Commander collection but eventually recycled and sold them all and it really felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. It's also really important to set a limit to how many Commander decks you own so that your collection doesn't get out of hand.
I won't build more than 4 Commander decks as I want to get the most out of those decks as possible without neglecting them from time to time. I manually update them whenever a new set release has specific card singles I'm wanting because buying sealed product just adds more chaff that I won't be able to trade away to players In-Person or sell to my Local Game Store (LGS) and If I end up pulling cards that my LGS doesn't want then I'm kinda wasting paper in the process. Why should I build more than 4 Commander decks If there's not as many Magic players showing up at my locals like there used to be? With Market Inflation increasing the paywall to even play it makes it more of a struggle than it already is.
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I think everyone is going to have a different answer mostly because everyone have a different idea of how much space they're willing to dedicate to the hobby.
I have a finite amount of space. There's a couple boxes, couple binders, lots of deck boxes. I still have a bit of space to add stuff, but once in a while I'll just grab some, and start asking myself questions-
"how long since I used this?"
"why?"
"what's better nowadays?"
"Am I ever going to actually build that Cats from Outer Space deck I bought these for?"
and the occasional...
"geez, wonder what this is worth nowadays?"
You have to be ruthless with yourself. Your brain will come up with all kinds of excuses to save something. I regret TONS of what I've given up over the years. I also think about how unruly the collection would be had I not trimmed the fat over the years.
Junkie's disclaimer: I do keep a 3rd big box under the bed of cards and stuff I've retired from the main collection that I don't want to sell or no one wants to buy.
Of course, all this refers to a whole collection, not just a commander collection.
And here's one for the old fogies: The old Case Logic nylon cassette cases fit deck boxes perfectly. The single layer (I think it was 30 cassettes) fits 14 deck boxes, the double layer holds 28, or you can work fat pack boxes into it.
The simplest, most altruistic, and least time consuming solution for you:
Box up everything you no longer want to keep, send the cards to me, and I'll take them off your hands to organize and redistribute to the younger generation of Magic players free of charge. I'll even pay for the shipping.
I just recently downsized the number of my Commander decks I own from 4 to 2 since I don't get to play those decks I tore apart as much as I'd like especially since I only get to play one day a week on Saturdays with the other LGS I used to go to on Fridays no longer allowing In-Store play due to how small their overhead is. There's a 3rd Commander deck I have but it was mainly all proxied up that belonged to a friend of mine who didn't want to spend his own money on it to get it completed plus he doesn't really play Paper Magic anymore especially since there hasn't been as many Magic players showing up at my LGS due to high gas prices from Market Inflation.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I just recently downsized the number of my Commander decks I own from 4 to 2 since I don't get to play those decks I tore apart as much as I'd like especially since I only get to play one day a week on Saturdays with the other LGS I used to go to on Fridays no longer allowing In-Store play due to how small their overhead is. There's a 3rd Commander deck I have but it was mainly all proxied up that belonged to a friend of mine who didn't want to spend his own money on it to get it completed plus he doesn't really play Paper Magic anymore especially since there hasn't been as many Magic players showing up at my LGS due to high gas prices from Market Inflation.
Mind if I ask what decks you kept and which ones you took apart?
Strangely, I've been doing the opposite. I keep building more decks, not because I plan to play them often, but so I can have a diverse variety of optimized decks to play against each other when others come over who like the game, but don't have the cards or funds to build their own. Originally, my plan was to have one deck for each color combination, but somehow I still haven't finished building jund, bant or jeskai, and ended up building two mono-red (purphorus, daretti), two mardu (kaalia of the vast, edgar markov), and two golgari (gitrog monster, elves).
Sort cards by color (w u b r g, artifact/colorless, multicolor, land, token) then subsort them by card type (creature, enchantment+colored artifact+planeswalker, Instant+sorcery.) You may then also choose to sort by Mana Value/CMC. Set staples aside and box them seperately. If you have "Sometimes boxes" of cards, you can go through them less, and draw from your staples more frequently, and if you need to draw from your "sometimes box" it's extremely useful to have had them sorted into chunks beforehand to cut down on your search. Label your boxes!
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I once had a collection that was around 30,000 cards and now I have it in a bit more of a manageable size… but I want to get it down into a SET size: one binder for each color with no more than 500 cards in it. Much of the internet advice talks about systems for sorting cards or whether they use binders or boxes to store their collection. I’m not looking for that kind of advice. I’m looking for tips on how to maintain a curated collection of the best cards, how you determine which cards to rotate out of your collection (assume that all of them are good), and how you judiciously add cards.
Like many of you, I’ve been playing magic for a long, long time. I no longer wish to maintain and organize a closet full of card stock. You can spend too much time and money sorting, organizing, and managing a collection than actually playing it. WotC is pumping out more cards and sets than ever before, so I want to slow down my acquisition of cards so that I get to actually play the ones I already have.
So I’m looking for advice on how you decide to keep your collection — if you do — within certain boundaries. Do you have a system? Do you have binders or boxes and say, “I will keep what can fit within these and no more”?
Thank you in advance for any thoughtful feedback! I appreciate your time.
As a bunch of cards are very specific for a theme, like lifegain, thats the odd-balls of cards that are not generally good.
The https://edhrec.com/top list is of cards that are somewhat omni-present, if people play that color chances are they use these cards too, at least in a "casual" themed EDH deck.
For cEDH the list of relevant cards is even smaller, but some odd-balls are also super specific for a metagame.
In general i keep a "box" of cards sleeved that i regard as playable, thats better than a binder, as a box fits way more cards than a binder.
A binder i reserve for expensive cards , 50+ bucks, and its the stuff i dont have in any trade binders either, as thats just a risk to get them stolen or lost.
For decks i also proxy anything thats too expensive with colored prints, as having too much money on you is just a risk.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Just an infliction of the hobby sadly.
https://archidekt.com/user/71716
I won't build more than 4 Commander decks as I want to get the most out of those decks as possible without neglecting them from time to time. I manually update them whenever a new set release has specific card singles I'm wanting because buying sealed product just adds more chaff that I won't be able to trade away to players In-Person or sell to my Local Game Store (LGS) and If I end up pulling cards that my LGS doesn't want then I'm kinda wasting paper in the process. Why should I build more than 4 Commander decks If there's not as many Magic players showing up at my locals like there used to be? With Market Inflation increasing the paywall to even play it makes it more of a struggle than it already is.
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I think everyone is going to have a different answer mostly because everyone have a different idea of how much space they're willing to dedicate to the hobby.
I have a finite amount of space. There's a couple boxes, couple binders, lots of deck boxes. I still have a bit of space to add stuff, but once in a while I'll just grab some, and start asking myself questions-
"how long since I used this?"
"why?"
"what's better nowadays?"
"Am I ever going to actually build that Cats from Outer Space deck I bought these for?"
and the occasional...
"geez, wonder what this is worth nowadays?"
You have to be ruthless with yourself. Your brain will come up with all kinds of excuses to save something. I regret TONS of what I've given up over the years. I also think about how unruly the collection would be had I not trimmed the fat over the years.
Junkie's disclaimer: I do keep a 3rd big box under the bed of cards and stuff I've retired from the main collection that I don't want to sell or no one wants to buy.
Of course, all this refers to a whole collection, not just a commander collection.
And here's one for the old fogies: The old Case Logic nylon cassette cases fit deck boxes perfectly. The single layer (I think it was 30 cassettes) fits 14 deck boxes, the double layer holds 28, or you can work fat pack boxes into it.
Box up everything you no longer want to keep, send the cards to me, and I'll take them off your hands to organize and redistribute to the younger generation of Magic players free of charge. I'll even pay for the shipping.
It'll be like milling two birds with one stone.
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Mind if I ask what decks you kept and which ones you took apart?
Strangely, I've been doing the opposite. I keep building more decks, not because I plan to play them often, but so I can have a diverse variety of optimized decks to play against each other when others come over who like the game, but don't have the cards or funds to build their own. Originally, my plan was to have one deck for each color combination, but somehow I still haven't finished building jund, bant or jeskai, and ended up building two mono-red (purphorus, daretti), two mardu (kaalia of the vast, edgar markov), and two golgari (gitrog monster, elves).
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage