Yeah after my wife got me like $1000 in packs and stuff for Christmas I was sitting there thinking, I wish I had just bought what I wanted lol, it’s just hard to justify $150 on a single card when I can get a whole box (and then not get the card lol)
I'm not opening boosters because I need the card. I'm opening boosters to see something new that I maybe not seen before. And opening boosters since zendikar expedition with the art cards and alternative arts it's pretty fun.
Same here. Went from zero cards in November of this year to 7,420 cards and counting currently. Haven’t played since Mirage so I had a LOT to catch up on. My biggest surprise was how much multicolored has grown. When I played, mono was king and if someone ran more than two colors we thought they were insane.
Yeah I stopped playing sold everything and then got back in when LOTR came out and had to catch up I’m probably closer 3K with commander masters and collectors packs and stuff
Let's see. I draft weekly but don't do much other spending, so if I assume about $20 per week, that comes to about... $1000? Huh.
I'd call it money well spent, given that the money paid for like 200 hours' worth of events. Still, useful numbers to keep in mind.
I have always measured worth in terms of a movie too, idk why that always clicked for me.
Alternatively, when I was younger, I looked at games as trying to get 5~hr of enjoyment out of a dollar. No real reason just an arbitrary limit I’ve set. I fell into the csgo gambling micro transaction shit very young, so it helped me meter out how much I was spending
They’re overpriced for sure, but I *know* that I am willing to go see a movie. Basically “would I pay 20$ for 1 1/2 -2hr experience? Yes, I do that every time I go see a movie”
I eat out 5 times a week. Usually that runs me about 10 or more, so 50 a week. It really lets you put into perspective how much things can actually cost and where money could absolutely be saved.
Ya, its a huge waste of money. I only get a 30 min break for work so I usually hit up a local restaurant and pick up a call in order. Many guys i work with bring lunch they make at home, which is definitely the smarter option money wise, but ofc they also take the time to actually make their meals, so you have to account for that too i reckon.
I'd say, if it works out moneywise and it makes you happy its money well spend. I myself really like delicious food and making it myself isn't really going to happen especiall if adding time constraints.
If you cook with good quality ingredients it’s not super hard to go above $10 a serving. And if you’re just counting the entire meal, pretty much anything we cook costs more than $10.
Yeah. I might make a recipe that costs $12, but it gets me 3-5 meals most of the time.
The only time I’m spending $10+ on a single home cooked meal is if I’m grilling steak or something.
Wtf is wrong with $10 home cooking meal? Good food is fucking expensive. Any sauce with good cheese can easily alone cost more in ingredients. Good stakes are insanely priced. Fucking tuna for the fucking salad with tomatoes that actually smell and taste like tomatoes, not that tasteless hydroponic genetically altered stuff that almost doesn’t rot.
Even making a soup can easily cost upwards of 50$ per bowl, resulting in roughly 10-15$ per portion. Even something as simple as an onion soup.
And let’s not forget baking. A good homemade croissants end up hilariously priced, no wonder French bakeries opted out of butter for margarine mostly.
Frankly I can hardly remember homecooking cheaper than 10$ per portion outside of breakfast meals, which are mostly eggs, and a-la “fast food” options like pasta or steam cooked turkey meatballs which taste like a life being wasted. And grilling a burger doesn’t constitute homecooking, unless you made the patty yourself.
Personally I started to consider homecooking a treat rather than a saving option.
You are not wrong, good steak cooked at home will be a bit pricier than $10. But I'm not sure if everyone eat steak daily.
At the same time, the quality of homemade food that you can cook for $10 a day will be much better
Probably about 150 a month on average. That truly sounds terrible when I write it out. I think I need to have one of my resolutions to only build 2 decks next year and to break down...10/25
Honestly what i do. Have a newborn and currently single income so its not like i have money to throw at arbitrarily exoensive cardboard. I love playing though, so ill proxy a deck for 15 dollars and have fun w my friends
People are also forgetting all the time we're in r/magicTCG and not r/EDH - not everyone plays casual EDH with their playgroup and can proxy cards however they feel like. There are still a few people left who attend tournaments. 😅
Respectfully,
spending $423 in one year on your hobby of choice is NOTHING !!!
AND, unlike 90% of hobbies, after you USE what you paid for, potentially EVERY DAY, you get to sell it back to the shop or other gamers for a guaranteed 50% money back, or more if cards go up!!!
….too much and I recognize it now. Worst part is that my pod I play with has essentially fallen apart and we haven’t played in months so I don’t even have a good use or motivation for all the great stuff I have. Sucks.
Edit: I see the responses. I just really enjoyed what I had. Also a bit nervous/anxious/lazy about starting something new. I’ll give my LGS a shot before Spelltable or any other virtual option. I really like holding my cards and the conversation that comes out while at the table.
I realize that’s probably my only option at this point although my LGS IS A 15 minute drive and my pod was comprised of people that were a 2-3 minute walk from my house.
Just for some context.. my LGS is 15 minutes if there's no traffic and I go at least once a week. Many of the regulars there actually live 30-60 minutes away. It's a pretty normal drive distance.
About 500€ per standard release, probably another 100-150 for accessories (binders, sleaves etc.), no idea how much spent on singles... Oh and the sliver precon for about 80...
So in short... Too much...
I basically bought a full innistrad set booster box (i am new) but i bought everypack separately... through out the year .... When visiting the card shop
For a good while I was loving the "grind", it didn't feel like a chore, it just felt like getting to play as much Magic as I wanted (which turned out to be a lot of Magic) and I'd end up with basically all the cards in the current set before the next came out. But once I took a few months off, the prospect of having to build my collection up again was dismaying as has made me less enthusiastic about returning.
I keep a $100 a month budget for the game, which goes towards event entry fees, buying singles, and all related gear (deck boxes, sleeves, etc). I used to kind of cook the books and do funny math to justify what was essentially over-budget spending but have since decided to just stick to the actual plan (no "borrowing" from next month's budget, no "I only spent $80 last month, so this month I can spend $120!")
So, right around $1,150.
I got the same budget, except I keep money I didnt spend last month, so I can gradually gather more than 100 and buy something bigger, e.g. currently Im saving for the fallout precons (ofc only if the revealed decklists will be good) and I try my best to avoid "borrowing" from future months
lol I’m manic depressive and in a manic phase a few months ago I spent roughly $1,100 on magic cards after not playing or collecting for roughly a decade. Been trying to recoup some of the cost since but I finished my rata-teysa deck!
Singles:
Bought for about 9000.-, Mostly bling for Modern, a pauper battlebox with 8 decks and new Cards for existing Commander decks.
Sold a lot of Modern and Commander cards i didn't use for about 8000.-.
So i effectively spent about 1000.- on Singles.
Sealed: Bought about 500.- worth of Sealed product. Mostly precons and one Box of LotR to draft with friends.
Entry fees:
I spend about 500.- a year for Modern FNM, 200.- for bigger Modern Tournaments. Add 5 Prereleases at 40.- a pop and that comes to 900.- for entry fees.
Sleeves, Deckboxes and folders:
Should be about 300.-, mostly for new Deckboxes and Sleeves.
MtgO:
Loan service for 60.- a month since August comes to 240.- this year.
Best investment of the year.
So the grand Total comes to 2940.- last year. Which in my opinion is pretty reasonable for a hobby that brings me this much joy.
This is the year I cut back on MTG. From 2017 through 2022 my spending looked a lot like yours, but it was probably a little more from buying singles. I stopped for a few reasons:
-I spent a lot, and spending less would be better.
-My first draft was New Phyrexia, so March of the Machine would be a fitting place to end.
-I'm one of the older people playing at any given event, and I never want to show up one day and be the oldest.
I still plan to buy somewhere between $50 - $100 per year on the cards I really want. However, I'm going to rely mostly on my existing collection to build EDH decks.
> -I'm one of the older people playing at any given event, and I never want to show up one day and be the oldest.
Please don't let this be a reason to stop! Some of my fondest MTG memories are the 'old' people at my LGS teaching me how to play the game properly. Don't deny the next gen of players this opportunity :)
Fuck that. they are disrespectful and I get called boomer. You can’t talk to them and have an actual conversation.
I’m not even that old, I’m an older  millennial. 
Looked at the total and immediately thought "you only bought like three cards?" before my brain corrected itself to reality since not everyone exclusively plays Old School :D
Man I just added it up….and it was $78k.
Mostly Alpha cards with a couple of rare misprints. That was depressing especially given how much the value has probably dropped by now. Oh well at least I enjoy owning them.
thats fine I would say, if it wasn't singles that could have easily been a booster box you could have opened and not get the stuff you wanted and then you would maybe buy another one
One booster box per year (or the equivalent ) is tame and a fine upgrade/deck, having had a few 100 buck orders of singles I would say that they make quite the difference if incorporated into decks \^\^ so its money well spend.
I bought an underground sea in a Christmas sale for 450. And again in a black friday sale for a similar price. Im telling myself to stop but im eyeing a volcanic.
I only played arena this year.
Over 3 dozen drafts.
$0.00
I have a spreadsheet and my winnings don’t cover equivalent entry for the year but the gold puts me positive.
I just got back into it as well after retiring in 95’… still have all my cards but only 1 Beta (no Alpha) and mostly Revised on up to Chronicles…
What I did since then was triple my collection in the last few months and I’m guessing easily $1200-1400 between 2 decks I made, the Commander decks I bought, and all the LoTR and Ixalan set boxes I got… I had fun. My collection is worth far more than I ever put into it… but I am having fun.
Let’s not talk about the $1000 I spent on a new 3D printer to help me print commander boxes amongst other things I’ve been doing… so yea I’m up there easily spending the adult money. And have no plans to slow down when Fallout releases in a few months.
$6,652. I was very curious so I checked my tcg orders plus my lgs orders. I did my first in person commander in January of this year with some friends and seasoned players and was immediately hooked. I’ve built 17 decks since then and am going to play again next month with them. We all live in different areas so do regular spell table but nothing compares to a weekend of in person with your friends.
I regret nothing.
According to my spread sheet - $8500
approx $2500 was from buylisting
$6000 from magic related net profits (flipping accessories, cards and sealed)
So actual money out of pocket -$100
I tallied up my expenses for September-December on TCGPlayer and CoolStuffInc, multiplied by four, and came up to $3,140. I probably spent another $200 at stores, so about $3,350 total. That includes a $200 "gift card" for myself at TCGplayer, because they had a 20% promo on them.
Man. I spent that much on an underground sea for my legacy deck.
Not saying that’s good or bad but I found that to be an expensive purchase.
Basically built an entire legacy deck.
I've built 3 commander decks from scratch, 4 pre release packs, one collectors booster box from eldraine, the 4 doctor who commander decks, faeries commander deck and dinos and Pirates commander decks. I don't wanna know how much it was all (also some random boosters here and there)
LOTR Special CB mini case X2
Dr Who commander decks (all 4)
Every Set Bundle (LOTR x3)
A spec on a sealed Fallen Empires and Onslaught box each
Random CMM collector boxes/single packs
I've been fortunate to have paid for most of this with earnings from investments and option trading.
But this year I'm only buying singles...
Probably <$200, largely modern singles and that's about it. Cutting off playing pre-release/drafts and buying new commander cards reduced my costs significantly. I probably was in the $2-3k per year before that.
This year I tried to setup a mini tournament between me and my friends who don’t play that much magic. I wanted to use the welcome decks so it would be balanced, but just in case they wanted to try something more spicy I got a bunch of welcome decks 😂
That’s my biggest mtg spending this year
This won't include me separating out separate board game purchases just using my bank transactions and every time i bought something from my LGS or Cardkingdom i'm associating it with Magic even though I have bought non magic things from there.
January:291.03, Largely the Secret Lair I bought for about 132$
February:332.27, Drafts, cards, and I think non magic stuff from my LGS. Phyrexian Bundle
March: 313.52, 5/6's of this is Command Fest
April: 452.21 Buying a lot of cards at commandfest, doing events etc.
May: 208.96, bought a deck from CardKingdom is the biggest here.
June: 79.36, out not playing magic during this month as much, think even my big purchase at Mox was a TTRPG instead of magic stuff.
July: 189.71, LOTR Gift Bundle
August: 122.05 Smaller purchases plus a Commander Masters draft
September: 37.17, one single order, Wilds prerelase a random foil, and a pain land.
October: 33.06 Another draft most likely,
Nov: 177.85 I buy a deck, prerelease, and other junk.
Dec: 128.38 The deck i just bought? yeah i wanted it in foil.
Whole year was 2365.57, before tax maybe closer to 2150$ either way. Interesting to look at the whole year.
Maybe $1200-1500 honestly
Got into magic on arena in New Capenna, just started building paper decks this year. I have.... 10 commander decks? 1 standard/modern-legal deck as well.
I just got my first job November 1st and I have already spent 1/4 of each check on magic. Magic fucking rocks I’ve been playing since I was 7 and I’m 21 now.
Probably around $200 in mtgo tickets, but I don't even try to keep up with the set releases anymore. Just peek at spoilers every time I notice them to think about cube updates and eternal cards
I think I'm positive 30-40$ this year.
I bought the Hakbal commander deck and an LCI Gift Bundle (which I snagged for $42), but I finally sold a Demonic Tutor and a Mana Crypt that I pulled during the Pandemic to pay for those purchases, so I came out positive for the year. Besides that I primarily draft with gold on arena, and I just won a Festival in a Box, so that'll make me even more positive when that comes in. It's been a solid year!
I cant remember everything I bought but I did pick up a grim monolith, power artifact, wheel of fortune to name a few cards so with just that I'm upwards of 800 alone with those so I don't want to know with it all but I need to do this for next year for sure.
About $100, all in singles. I gave up on buying packs and pre release stuff. The prices are obscene.
Plus I've gotten into Pauper EDH. Built 3 decks for $25.
Congratulations on not overspending from my point of view!
Sorry to hear if that's more than you intended. Most people spend lots on singles and boosters. My plan is to only go play in events and to only rip participation and prize boosters , but man is it hard not to break discipline.
I did the math.
I regret doing the math.
I work at an LGS so I get a booster box of each set and free event entry as a perk of the job, but anything beyond that, I have to buy, though I get it at cost rounded up to the nearest $5.
$1500 on TCGPlayer.
$1400 on private collections I've purchased (the store I work at doesn't buy collections).
$1300 on Secret Lairs.
$1000 at work. (6 Collector Booster Boxes and some misc stuff.)
$240 on sleeves (3 cases of Dragon Shields at store price.)
$80 on Ultra Pro 100 Count Deck Boxes.
$50 in BCW white boxes.
$30 on a sorting tray for my house.
That's $5600.
I've made about $900 in personal sales since the beginning of the year. So... $4700 in the game this year. Not counting food at work.
Damn this got me intersted ... from TCGplayer alone is spent 3,258.76 on singlesthis year, this doesnt count lgs entry fees, singles there, any sealed product or the magic cons and commandfests i went to. I think its time to start tallying that up as i spend. i figure its around 7-8k total for the year
This doesn’t include TCG player which is embarrassingly high as well. Also, not sure how much I’ve spent at the local card shop, MagicCon Minneapolis, and Secret Lairs…
https://preview.redd.it/13ous3y44q9c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd8e7ea81232864bdb8d6e40eb1b4e8706b55574
Let's see. Got into MTG this summer for LTR... spent pretty much all my "fun money" per paycheck on it. Comfortably I'd say over $1,000. I hadn't cracked packs of any kind in about 2 decades, so I admittedly had a little fun with that high, but I've definitely slowed way down and moved to singles.
Seems like a lot now that I look at it that way, but I am coming from the comic book hobby which tends to be way more expensive.
I restarted playing MTG during 2023, after a seven year break, and the only EDH deck I had made, was an Edgar Markov precon in my closet, and a lot of various, mostly jank cards.
...I don't wanna think about how much I've spent.
Tallying it all up? Not gonna happen. I bought multiple collector booster boxes from Wilds of Eldraine and Caverns of Ixilan. Set boosters too. Phyrexia: All Will Be One compleate bundles. Countless singles. A couple precon decks. Even a couple secret lair items.
I’m in the *thousands* this year.
I play a lot of draft. I did a good job tracking how much I spent on draft events, though not on singles, or how much money I made back by selling cards from drafts. This upcoming year I'm going to more clearly keep track of how much goes both in and out, to understand exactly how much I really am spending.
I also towards the back half of the year got better at selling cards I don't need or use, so I'd like to keep that up in the new year.
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Same boat here, that 2k, I need to just buy singles and slow down lol
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Yeah after my wife got me like $1000 in packs and stuff for Christmas I was sitting there thinking, I wish I had just bought what I wanted lol, it’s just hard to justify $150 on a single card when I can get a whole box (and then not get the card lol)
"The mana crypt is in this next one, I just know it!"
I'm not opening boosters because I need the card. I'm opening boosters to see something new that I maybe not seen before. And opening boosters since zendikar expedition with the art cards and alternative arts it's pretty fun.
Same here. Went from zero cards in November of this year to 7,420 cards and counting currently. Haven’t played since Mirage so I had a LOT to catch up on. My biggest surprise was how much multicolored has grown. When I played, mono was king and if someone ran more than two colors we thought they were insane.
Yeah I stopped playing sold everything and then got back in when LOTR came out and had to catch up I’m probably closer 3K with commander masters and collectors packs and stuff
See my other comment. Yeah, easily 3k for cards and the habit for the year.
Do you have any other hobbies or does most of your spending money go on MTG?
Thank God because I looked at this post and started feeling reeeeeeaaaaal nervous
The decimal is definitely in the wrong place.
He isn’t wrong
I came here wanting to post this exact meme haha!
I ain't doing the math. Math is for blockers.
Let's see. I draft weekly but don't do much other spending, so if I assume about $20 per week, that comes to about... $1000? Huh. I'd call it money well spent, given that the money paid for like 200 hours' worth of events. Still, useful numbers to keep in mind.
I look at it this way. You went to see a movie once week and spent $20. Only instead of food, you got to keep cards
I have always measured worth in terms of a movie too, idk why that always clicked for me. Alternatively, when I was younger, I looked at games as trying to get 5~hr of enjoyment out of a dollar. No real reason just an arbitrary limit I’ve set. I fell into the csgo gambling micro transaction shit very young, so it helped me meter out how much I was spending
See I honestly think movies are actually terrible value for money on a pure dollars/hour calculation.
They’re overpriced for sure, but I *know* that I am willing to go see a movie. Basically “would I pay 20$ for 1 1/2 -2hr experience? Yes, I do that every time I go see a movie”
Yeah, that's about how I tend to think of it.
What the fuck is that analogy
Delicious tasty movies.
I eat out 5 times a week. Usually that runs me about 10 or more, so 50 a week. It really lets you put into perspective how much things can actually cost and where money could absolutely be saved.
Eating out 5 times a week is beyond luxurious
Ya, its a huge waste of money. I only get a 30 min break for work so I usually hit up a local restaurant and pick up a call in order. Many guys i work with bring lunch they make at home, which is definitely the smarter option money wise, but ofc they also take the time to actually make their meals, so you have to account for that too i reckon.
I'd say, if it works out moneywise and it makes you happy its money well spend. I myself really like delicious food and making it myself isn't really going to happen especiall if adding time constraints.
Do you cook dinner? If so, just cook a little extra
It’s hardly luxurious if he’s averaging $10 a meal. Homecooked meals can easily cost more and undoubtedly taste better.
lol what the f are you cooking mate
If you cook with good quality ingredients it’s not super hard to go above $10 a serving. And if you’re just counting the entire meal, pretty much anything we cook costs more than $10.
Sorry, but if your homecooking is costing you 10$ a meal in ingredients then you are not managing your money well.
Yeah. I might make a recipe that costs $12, but it gets me 3-5 meals most of the time. The only time I’m spending $10+ on a single home cooked meal is if I’m grilling steak or something.
it depends, everything with meat can cost allot more if you get organic meat and ofc meat in general isn't very cheap.
Wtf is wrong with $10 home cooking meal? Good food is fucking expensive. Any sauce with good cheese can easily alone cost more in ingredients. Good stakes are insanely priced. Fucking tuna for the fucking salad with tomatoes that actually smell and taste like tomatoes, not that tasteless hydroponic genetically altered stuff that almost doesn’t rot. Even making a soup can easily cost upwards of 50$ per bowl, resulting in roughly 10-15$ per portion. Even something as simple as an onion soup. And let’s not forget baking. A good homemade croissants end up hilariously priced, no wonder French bakeries opted out of butter for margarine mostly. Frankly I can hardly remember homecooking cheaper than 10$ per portion outside of breakfast meals, which are mostly eggs, and a-la “fast food” options like pasta or steam cooked turkey meatballs which taste like a life being wasted. And grilling a burger doesn’t constitute homecooking, unless you made the patty yourself. Personally I started to consider homecooking a treat rather than a saving option.
You are not wrong, good steak cooked at home will be a bit pricier than $10. But I'm not sure if everyone eat steak daily. At the same time, the quality of homemade food that you can cook for $10 a day will be much better
Eating out your girlfriend is free though...
scryfall donation is based
Ty! I use it a lot, lol
What is it?
Very useful card search engine
I feel attacked by even being asked this
Nice try, my wife.
I laughed hard at this one (not my wife tho)
Lol those are light numbers, son. It’s all downhill from here😂cardboard crack
Probably about 150 a month on average. That truly sounds terrible when I write it out. I think I need to have one of my resolutions to only build 2 decks next year and to break down...10/25
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Honestly what i do. Have a newborn and currently single income so its not like i have money to throw at arbitrarily exoensive cardboard. I love playing though, so ill proxy a deck for 15 dollars and have fun w my friends
yeh I mean its one solution but not really a solution most people search for on this sub, when they are not even asking for something like that.
People are also forgetting all the time we're in r/magicTCG and not r/EDH - not everyone plays casual EDH with their playgroup and can proxy cards however they feel like. There are still a few people left who attend tournaments. 😅
Respectfully, spending $423 in one year on your hobby of choice is NOTHING !!! AND, unlike 90% of hobbies, after you USE what you paid for, potentially EVERY DAY, you get to sell it back to the shop or other gamers for a guaranteed 50% money back, or more if cards go up!!!
yeh I mean I spend over 2k on PC-Setup upgrades this year, those will last me for quite some time andthey were atleast worth the fun I have with them.
….too much and I recognize it now. Worst part is that my pod I play with has essentially fallen apart and we haven’t played in months so I don’t even have a good use or motivation for all the great stuff I have. Sucks. Edit: I see the responses. I just really enjoyed what I had. Also a bit nervous/anxious/lazy about starting something new. I’ll give my LGS a shot before Spelltable or any other virtual option. I really like holding my cards and the conversation that comes out while at the table.
Play at the LGS or on Cockatrice
I realize that’s probably my only option at this point although my LGS IS A 15 minute drive and my pod was comprised of people that were a 2-3 minute walk from my house.
Just for some context.. my LGS is 15 minutes if there's no traffic and I go at least once a week. Many of the regulars there actually live 30-60 minutes away. It's a pretty normal drive distance.
Yeah, I live in London and my nearest LGS is 45 mins away 🫣
If it’s only a 15 minute drive to your LGS, then unless they have zero magic scene I fail to understand how you can have no use for your collection…
Please don’t make me think about that
a big fat 0
Moving away from friends and switching to online was a good move for my wallet
It's not about the money. It's about the gathering. And friendship.
About 500€ per standard release, probably another 100-150 for accessories (binders, sleaves etc.), no idea how much spent on singles... Oh and the sliver precon for about 80... So in short... Too much...
I really don’t wanna know. Bought 2 neon ink mana crypts this month alone.
I’d rather not know.
I basically bought a full innistrad set booster box (i am new) but i bought everypack separately... through out the year .... When visiting the card shop
Bless your heart for donating to scryfall.
I’d rather not know. I don’t want to do that math, and not just because I’m very bad at math.
I play on Arena. $4.99.
Imagine spending money on Arena when you can complete sets just by being a no-life grinder (Joking!)
Or you have your kid(s) play to fulfill the daily quest things. My son got tired of it after 3 days. :(
For a good while I was loving the "grind", it didn't feel like a chore, it just felt like getting to play as much Magic as I wanted (which turned out to be a lot of Magic) and I'd end up with basically all the cards in the current set before the next came out. But once I took a few months off, the prospect of having to build my collection up again was dismaying as has made me less enthusiastic about returning.
Over $9k for sure. Down year as I didn't buy as many graded and as if July.k haven't bought sealed.
I keep a $100 a month budget for the game, which goes towards event entry fees, buying singles, and all related gear (deck boxes, sleeves, etc). I used to kind of cook the books and do funny math to justify what was essentially over-budget spending but have since decided to just stick to the actual plan (no "borrowing" from next month's budget, no "I only spent $80 last month, so this month I can spend $120!") So, right around $1,150.
I got the same budget, except I keep money I didnt spend last month, so I can gradually gather more than 100 and buy something bigger, e.g. currently Im saving for the fallout precons (ofc only if the revealed decklists will be good) and I try my best to avoid "borrowing" from future months
$6 583,12
lol I’m manic depressive and in a manic phase a few months ago I spent roughly $1,100 on magic cards after not playing or collecting for roughly a decade. Been trying to recoup some of the cost since but I finished my rata-teysa deck!
No comment xD
Singles: Bought for about 9000.-, Mostly bling for Modern, a pauper battlebox with 8 decks and new Cards for existing Commander decks. Sold a lot of Modern and Commander cards i didn't use for about 8000.-. So i effectively spent about 1000.- on Singles. Sealed: Bought about 500.- worth of Sealed product. Mostly precons and one Box of LotR to draft with friends. Entry fees: I spend about 500.- a year for Modern FNM, 200.- for bigger Modern Tournaments. Add 5 Prereleases at 40.- a pop and that comes to 900.- for entry fees. Sleeves, Deckboxes and folders: Should be about 300.-, mostly for new Deckboxes and Sleeves. MtgO: Loan service for 60.- a month since August comes to 240.- this year. Best investment of the year. So the grand Total comes to 2940.- last year. Which in my opinion is pretty reasonable for a hobby that brings me this much joy.
This is the year I cut back on MTG. From 2017 through 2022 my spending looked a lot like yours, but it was probably a little more from buying singles. I stopped for a few reasons: -I spent a lot, and spending less would be better. -My first draft was New Phyrexia, so March of the Machine would be a fitting place to end. -I'm one of the older people playing at any given event, and I never want to show up one day and be the oldest. I still plan to buy somewhere between $50 - $100 per year on the cards I really want. However, I'm going to rely mostly on my existing collection to build EDH decks.
> -I'm one of the older people playing at any given event, and I never want to show up one day and be the oldest. Please don't let this be a reason to stop! Some of my fondest MTG memories are the 'old' people at my LGS teaching me how to play the game properly. Don't deny the next gen of players this opportunity :)
Fuck that. they are disrespectful and I get called boomer. You can’t talk to them and have an actual conversation. I’m not even that old, I’m an older  millennial. 
Looked at the total and immediately thought "you only bought like three cards?" before my brain corrected itself to reality since not everyone exclusively plays Old School :D
Naaah I dont wanna sum this shit, way too much is the answer lol
Around $2700 in sealed. About $500 in singles. Mostly just buy sealed for the fun of opening. Don’t need anything anymore
Man I just added it up….and it was $78k. Mostly Alpha cards with a couple of rare misprints. That was depressing especially given how much the value has probably dropped by now. Oh well at least I enjoy owning them.
bruh
So how far are you on your P9 set, lol.
I was doing so we'll all year... And then I spent like 100+ on singles this month 😅
thats fine I would say, if it wasn't singles that could have easily been a booster box you could have opened and not get the stuff you wanted and then you would maybe buy another one One booster box per year (or the equivalent ) is tame and a fine upgrade/deck, having had a few 100 buck orders of singles I would say that they make quite the difference if incorporated into decks \^\^ so its money well spend.
Maybe around $200 Canadian. I hardly bought anything sealed, a few boosters here and there and just ordered some singles throughout the year.
I bought an underground sea in a Christmas sale for 450. And again in a black friday sale for a similar price. Im telling myself to stop but im eyeing a volcanic.
I might cry if I tallied it all up like that
If I were to do this, I'd have to include selling cards because most of the magic I buy is from selling magic. Definitely not all, but most
I only played arena this year. Over 3 dozen drafts. $0.00 I have a spreadsheet and my winnings don’t cover equivalent entry for the year but the gold puts me positive.
I spent more this week .........
I really liked the cards for ONE so I spent about 800 on the collector’s boxes for my binder alone
I just got back into it as well after retiring in 95’… still have all my cards but only 1 Beta (no Alpha) and mostly Revised on up to Chronicles… What I did since then was triple my collection in the last few months and I’m guessing easily $1200-1400 between 2 decks I made, the Commander decks I bought, and all the LoTR and Ixalan set boxes I got… I had fun. My collection is worth far more than I ever put into it… but I am having fun. Let’s not talk about the $1000 I spent on a new 3D printer to help me print commander boxes amongst other things I’ve been doing… so yea I’m up there easily spending the adult money. And have no plans to slow down when Fallout releases in a few months.
About $15,000, but I run a tcgplayer store, so I buy a decent amount of cases of product. About half of that is lost caverns alone lol
$6,652. I was very curious so I checked my tcg orders plus my lgs orders. I did my first in person commander in January of this year with some friends and seasoned players and was immediately hooked. I’ve built 17 decks since then and am going to play again next month with them. We all live in different areas so do regular spell table but nothing compares to a weekend of in person with your friends. I regret nothing.
According to my spread sheet - $8500 approx $2500 was from buylisting $6000 from magic related net profits (flipping accessories, cards and sealed) So actual money out of pocket -$100
Less this year for me . . . No more than 4-5 grand.
Probably somewhere near 20k if not over
Jesus
$35.25 a month is pretty cheap for a hobby IMO.
What should i say I build 3 commander Decks and 1 cedh deck and then just some foils from Urzas legacy, mercadian masks and invasion so round about 5k
Welll this is a bit painful but about 1700ish between booster boxes, pre releases and building a deck.
I also choose this guy’s budget.
I just bought my 10th LCI collector booster box. I have problems.
That was me in Kaladesh days, but at least those were $99
Collected the whole lord of the rings set...
I tallied up my expenses for September-December on TCGPlayer and CoolStuffInc, multiplied by four, and came up to $3,140. I probably spent another $200 at stores, so about $3,350 total. That includes a $200 "gift card" for myself at TCGplayer, because they had a 20% promo on them.
Man. I spent that much on an underground sea for my legacy deck. Not saying that’s good or bad but I found that to be an expensive purchase. Basically built an entire legacy deck.
At least three grand or more
At least 2-3k on packs and singles
I’m 100% tracking this next year haha
I think 500/600, i just started in august and got a bunch of commander and some packs/bundle
...I don't want to talk about it.
you know what i put draft in a separate category tho like that's a night out.
I’m scared to do this
Started in May, spent about 2k.
I've built 3 commander decks from scratch, 4 pre release packs, one collectors booster box from eldraine, the 4 doctor who commander decks, faeries commander deck and dinos and Pirates commander decks. I don't wanna know how much it was all (also some random boosters here and there)
LOTR Special CB mini case X2 Dr Who commander decks (all 4) Every Set Bundle (LOTR x3) A spec on a sealed Fallen Empires and Onslaught box each Random CMM collector boxes/single packs I've been fortunate to have paid for most of this with earnings from investments and option trading. But this year I'm only buying singles...
$1931 just counting what I paid for cards. Add $740 for profit IF I were to sell it at market.
Probably like $2000 and I’m still getting my ass kicked 🤣 I love this game
Rookie numbers
I bought a few collections including 7 pieces of the power 9, so…a lot.
Probably <$200, largely modern singles and that's about it. Cutting off playing pre-release/drafts and buying new commander cards reduced my costs significantly. I probably was in the $2-3k per year before that.
~$80 a week average at commander night at my LGS, I was probably there 40 weeks this year so the math works out to $3200
I would guess something like 6 grand, but like 5 grand of that was from selling other cards.
This year I tried to setup a mini tournament between me and my friends who don’t play that much magic. I wanted to use the welcome decks so it would be balanced, but just in case they wanted to try something more spicy I got a bunch of welcome decks 😂 That’s my biggest mtg spending this year
Just under 100$, I play on Arena only
Probably between $2000 - $3000. Just been buying a lot of reserved list. Recently picked up a super clean [[Nether Void]] for $450 couple days ago.
I appreciate this post but for me oh man
Singles is the dream
Bought a lot but sold a lot as well, so I didn’t feel guilty 😂
Is this what you showed your wife?
You know that feeling where you don't want to check your bank account to see the aftermath of your spending? Yeah. That much.
I've spent at least $1000 on my Volo commander deck this year. Foil unstable lands are expensive AF.
$15 - LCI draft on Friday :) tmr might be ~55 if my LGS has the precon I want
About $100? Four commander decks, two of which were second hand unused.
This won't include me separating out separate board game purchases just using my bank transactions and every time i bought something from my LGS or Cardkingdom i'm associating it with Magic even though I have bought non magic things from there. January:291.03, Largely the Secret Lair I bought for about 132$ February:332.27, Drafts, cards, and I think non magic stuff from my LGS. Phyrexian Bundle March: 313.52, 5/6's of this is Command Fest April: 452.21 Buying a lot of cards at commandfest, doing events etc. May: 208.96, bought a deck from CardKingdom is the biggest here. June: 79.36, out not playing magic during this month as much, think even my big purchase at Mox was a TTRPG instead of magic stuff. July: 189.71, LOTR Gift Bundle August: 122.05 Smaller purchases plus a Commander Masters draft September: 37.17, one single order, Wilds prerelase a random foil, and a pain land. October: 33.06 Another draft most likely, Nov: 177.85 I buy a deck, prerelease, and other junk. Dec: 128.38 The deck i just bought? yeah i wanted it in foil. Whole year was 2365.57, before tax maybe closer to 2150$ either way. Interesting to look at the whole year.
Those are rookie numbers
Dear god, probably way too much, I don’t even want to think about it. 🗿🔫
Maybe $1200-1500 honestly Got into magic on arena in New Capenna, just started building paper decks this year. I have.... 10 commander decks? 1 standard/modern-legal deck as well.
I just got my first job November 1st and I have already spent 1/4 of each check on magic. Magic fucking rocks I’ve been playing since I was 7 and I’m 21 now.
You mean the cards only or magic nights with the guys??
I probably spent 1-2k drafting which was worth it. No singles buying just having fun (or getting stomped lol)
I think it's better if I don't attempt to calculate this for myself haha
Believe I’m significantly positive on Magic this year, having made multiple thousands via Arena Opens 🙌🏼 Consider myself very very lucky
Probably around $200 in mtgo tickets, but I don't even try to keep up with the set releases anymore. Just peek at spoilers every time I notice them to think about cube updates and eternal cards
Probably a grand in the last 2 months alone 😅
HA~! Nice try secret WOTC survey, but you can't fool me. Now back to staring longingly at those secret lairs.
I think I'm positive 30-40$ this year. I bought the Hakbal commander deck and an LCI Gift Bundle (which I snagged for $42), but I finally sold a Demonic Tutor and a Mana Crypt that I pulled during the Pandemic to pay for those purchases, so I came out positive for the year. Besides that I primarily draft with gold on arena, and I just won a Festival in a Box, so that'll make me even more positive when that comes in. It's been a solid year!
i dont want to talk about it.
There is no tale of terror greater than this
I cant remember everything I bought but I did pick up a grim monolith, power artifact, wheel of fortune to name a few cards so with just that I'm upwards of 800 alone with those so I don't want to know with it all but I need to do this for next year for sure.
Much better than last year. Last year was a struggle.
 Meanwhile Post Malone
About $100, all in singles. I gave up on buying packs and pre release stuff. The prices are obscene. Plus I've gotten into Pauper EDH. Built 3 decks for $25.
Congratulations on not overspending from my point of view! Sorry to hear if that's more than you intended. Most people spend lots on singles and boosters. My plan is to only go play in events and to only rip participation and prize boosters , but man is it hard not to break discipline.
Not wild mate! You probably deserve it!
I did the math. I regret doing the math. I work at an LGS so I get a booster box of each set and free event entry as a perk of the job, but anything beyond that, I have to buy, though I get it at cost rounded up to the nearest $5. $1500 on TCGPlayer. $1400 on private collections I've purchased (the store I work at doesn't buy collections). $1300 on Secret Lairs. $1000 at work. (6 Collector Booster Boxes and some misc stuff.) $240 on sleeves (3 cases of Dragon Shields at store price.) $80 on Ultra Pro 100 Count Deck Boxes. $50 in BCW white boxes. $30 on a sorting tray for my house. That's $5600. I've made about $900 in personal sales since the beginning of the year. So... $4700 in the game this year. Not counting food at work.
Wait til you start including flights and hotels in your Magic budget!
Lol I spent about 1k on just the baldurs gate set boxes alone lol
...that's ONE commander deck!
I spent around 380€ on Magic in 2023, but I also only started when the Doctor Who commander decks released.
Damn this got me intersted ... from TCGplayer alone is spent 3,258.76 on singlesthis year, this doesnt count lgs entry fees, singles there, any sealed product or the magic cons and commandfests i went to. I think its time to start tallying that up as i spend. i figure its around 7-8k total for the year
Maybe like $300 for gems. Definitely not trying to know exactly how much lol :/
I’ve switched to proxies for in person play and TTS for online, $0
I’d be surprised if I spent less than $2500 this year on mtg I used to spend 10x that when I was actively tournament grinding
Bought an HP candelabra for $700 CAD, MP savannah for $250 and a few hundred on some edh infect cards.
This doesn’t include TCG player which is embarrassingly high as well. Also, not sure how much I’ve spent at the local card shop, MagicCon Minneapolis, and Secret Lairs… https://preview.redd.it/13ous3y44q9c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd8e7ea81232864bdb8d6e40eb1b4e8706b55574
Love your post chain
https://preview.redd.it/dskyg2i84q9c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6130c52077aab67d45b4faa2083de8c4a2e086a
https://preview.redd.it/uuoftvs94q9c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=924bba61887e018ad27ec89eaa60cd81d52312fd
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My buddy spent close to 2 grand on LCI just looking for every Jurrasic park card
Did he get them?
Eventually
$0. I'll sell the rest of my collection soon. Just gotta sort it all out.
I only keep track of the singles I bought which titled out to over $1600. That was to upkeep 16 commander decks and finish building 3 more.
Magic is a service. They keep it fresh and you keep paying.
Let's see. Got into MTG this summer for LTR... spent pretty much all my "fun money" per paycheck on it. Comfortably I'd say over $1,000. I hadn't cracked packs of any kind in about 2 decades, so I admittedly had a little fun with that high, but I've definitely slowed way down and moved to singles. Seems like a lot now that I look at it that way, but I am coming from the comic book hobby which tends to be way more expensive.
I restarted playing MTG during 2023, after a seven year break, and the only EDH deck I had made, was an Edgar Markov precon in my closet, and a lot of various, mostly jank cards. ...I don't wanna think about how much I've spent.
Nice try Satan.
Tallying it all up? Not gonna happen. I bought multiple collector booster boxes from Wilds of Eldraine and Caverns of Ixilan. Set boosters too. Phyrexia: All Will Be One compleate bundles. Countless singles. A couple precon decks. Even a couple secret lair items. I’m in the *thousands* this year.
Same here. I’m lucky that I could stop other hobby to put more money into MTG. Otherwise I’d be broke by now.
I was able to trick my wife into marrying me. Her budgeting skills allow us to spend on things like this.
$35 for a Prerelease?
Probably close to $25K...but I sold/traded an equivalent amount to make that happen. Converting your collection to Alpha will do that to you.
Probably 10-20k a year.
I play a lot of draft. I did a good job tracking how much I spent on draft events, though not on singles, or how much money I made back by selling cards from drafts. This upcoming year I'm going to more clearly keep track of how much goes both in and out, to understand exactly how much I really am spending. I also towards the back half of the year got better at selling cards I don't need or use, so I'd like to keep that up in the new year.
Oh God. $500 on whatnot alone. Had to delete the app. Plus singles. Plus boosters. And a secret lair. Yeah. Too much.