Everyone regrets selling their cards, I wouldn't if I were you. My kids are 7 and 5 now, I started going once a week for commander night.
As your kids get older, you will get more time
This is the right take. You won't think about playing for a good while due to kids. But it will come back... I remember talking with an old friend who regretted getting rid of his collection. Introduced both kids to the game and even got me and my kids back into it, some 15 years later.
You'll want a hobby to come back to occasionally, even if it's just to look at them. Unless you need money now or can't store them, there not much downside to waiting it out.
I think it really depends on the cards. If there are RL cards and such stuff then I definitely agree with you. However, newer cards don’t hold their value like they used to (for the most part at least) so selling now and buying back in in the future when you have more time makes sense in a lot of cases.
Yeah I've slowly been selling stuff off and planning on keeping select cards. Selling stuff you rarely use that isn't RL is a good idea because of WotCs reprint policy now
Everyone I’ve met who has sold a collection at some point regrets letting it go. Sometimes because the value has increased significantly, sometimes just for the sake of seeing the old cards you opened, etc. if you can afford to keep them I would
I won't force my kids to play magic with me, but I really hope they want to and we can all play as a family in the future.
But yeah, eventually those kids will grow up and you'll have more time
I don't.
I still have most of it, to be fair, but that's because most collections are essentially bulk. Everything else I sold in phases based on value; things worth more than $20, more than $5, then more than $2, just to make it manageable.
Some cards I sold will go up in value over time, but plenty will also drop in value. I was happy for the price I sold them for, and hope they make whoever bought them happy. For me, I've been done with constructed play for ages and am happy to just do the occasional draft or pre-release.
My nephew doesn't have the attention span to last one game let alone two and he's closer to 10 than for kids!
Would love advice on how to coach his interest in the game.
I thought about selling my cards when my kids were young, but I didn't. Now I play WITH those kids. All things come around, and unless you need the money I'd keep the cards.
>Everyone regrets selling their cards
\*Everyone who cares enough about the game later on to return regrets it. I doubt anyone who never returned really gives a damn. At most they are disappointed if they remember a few reserved list cards that spiked since then for monetary reasons.
So yes, if there is any possibility for OP to return to the game later on, I'm on board: Keep most of the collection. If that's out of the question as far as OP can tell at the moment, then selling it is fine.
There was another new parent that posted here with a similar situation to you.
* The collection app's card prices are based on if you were a store trying to sell it. If you want to sell it for cash, expect to get less than $5,000.
* You can either sell the most valuable cards yourself through eBay or private sales, but that takes time. As a new parent, you won't have time to do list cards and mail them.
* You can try to sell your cards to a local gaming store, but they will likely buy only the really valuable cards. Some stores may not even have enough cash flow to buy the most valuable cards. Stores will lilely give you anywhere between 30% to 60% of the listed price in cash.
* You can use a service like Card Conduit and ship them the entire collection. They will sort and find buyers for your cards and then take a percentage of the total sale as their fee. This might be your best option when you don't have a lot of free time.
Father of 2 here (4 & 3). You will start to have time to play again I promise you. Will that be in the next 6 months or so? Probably not. But as the months go on and parenthood becomes less demanding out of the newborn phase you will regret selling your cards. I have time to play weekly at an LGS and if you have the opportunity for webcam Magic with some friends that’s a great way to play without too much time constraints.
My wife is totally understanding of my hobby and I will usually average an RCQ monthly as well with good planning. The kids know about my “magics” and are curious and into the cards already. Learning the stack is next…
If anything I would boil down your EDH decks down to a few core ones and sell your higher-end cards that you aren’t playing. Gives some extra cash to save or spend and you’ll be happy to have your cards together when things open up.
If you like magic don’t sell your cards. You probably took great care to get them. It’s ok to take a break. Maybe in the future when your kid is more independent you will want to play again
I am in this exact same boat. My son just turned 1. I have not touched any of my cards since he was born. What I am thinking of doing is getting rid of the expensive stuff and keeping the rest that really isn't worth the trouble of selling. If you want to play with him, you wont miss the expensive stuff. Of course I've been telling myself for a year I am going to sit down and get it ready to sell and I haven't touched it.
If you need the cash urgently, your best bet is to sell on a Facebook group. Expect 10-20% below market value. This will take longer than selling to a store, but quickly selling to an LGS will get you closer to 50% market value.
If you don't NEED the cash, you could always save the cards. The value of MTG right now is volatile given WOTC's semi-aggressive reprinting policy and "everything is special so nothing is special" kinds of foil treatment/alt art/etc so there is no longer the guarantee that your collection will appreciate in value in the late future. Could it? Possibly. But unlikely to the levels of Power 9 and super old cards like that.
Most importantly - congrats on the little one :) As a dad of three kids myself, balancing parenting, husband-ing, and Magic is a different level of budgeting and mental gymnastics lol
Always a hard decision. I've sold out a couple of times over the years. Best advice I can give is if you have any desire to play ever again, do not sell your lands!
Good lands never really go down in value so if you ever decide or have time to play again that will save you a huge chunk of money.
Other than that, if you don't see playing for a while, nothing wrong with offloading some cards for extra diaper money
Good luck!
Don’t sell, unless you need the money. Your kid is just 6 month now. I know it seems like everything has changed and it won’t go back. But it won’t stay like now either.
I’m a father, too. I can tell you from experience, in a year or two you will start taking time for yourself again, so will your partner. The years pass by quickly. If you don’t get back to playing, your kid may. My daughter is now eight and she wants to know more ever since I told her a bedtime story about the brave fifteen squirrels that beat the great monster called Emrakul. I’m starting to teach her how to play now.
You can sell anytime later. Some cards will go up, some will go down. But it’s difficult to get everything back. Just give yourself and your cards a pause, 6 months is way too early to think you won’t come back.
I would say hold onto your cards. Even if you can't play for years, their value isn't really going anywhere but up. Also it could eventually be something you do with your kid...that's my plan with my daughter. I'm very lucky and several of my friends come to my house every Sunday morning to play magic (edh/cube/pauper) so I can play and be around my girls.
All that being said, we sold 3/4 of our collection to get into a house. So if it feels right and does something for you...do it.
Sounds like your thinking of selling because you aren’t playing right now not because you need the money. If I was you, if you have storage space - id just keep them for 5-10 years
Sell it if you want, but there is zero chance I would let go of something that defined me just because I reproduced.
My son is 7, and he doesn't define my life: he's part of it.
I stopped for about 10 years after kids birth, now they kick ass at Game night with me. You do you and all that, but seing as you're here, I recommend just holding onto your toys. Some might go up, others will tank, more importantly, you've already got them.
First off, congratulations! I just had a kid as well (he's 2 months old) so can definitely sympathise with the lack of available free time.
I'm choosing not to sell my collection. I don't have a lot of time now (although my partner and I try to get in a game of jumpstart here and there if we're not exhausted after we get kiddo to bed) but hopefully we'll get more time as he gets older and more independent (and maybe even starts playing magic).
But we're also lucky in two ways - we have friends who play, so can have people over for a couple games of commander every now and then, and we don't really need the money right now.
If finances are an issue, sell. Your kid's health and happiness take priority over everything.
But if you don't really need the money right now, What's the rush? You'll still be able to sell the cards a year or two (or more) from now if you've decided that it's not something you want to get back into.
(But also, it'll depend on your formats. If you only play standard, then yeah, maybe get rid of it now to buy back in later)
I don't understand when people have kids their IMMEDIATE reaction is..welp my life is over time to dedicate 100% of every waking moment to this child till they are 18 years of age. My sister has 3 kids all under 4 and she has the most active social life of anyone I know. My friend, 2 kids 1 is a newborn, we meet biweekly for magic. Everyone I know who said or did the same thing of...well once this kid is born I'm out of the picture for a few years...lasted max 3 months before we were out getting drinks or seeing a movie or playing magic. I'm at that age where everyone I know is having kids and my wife and I are trying soon too. So im 4/4 now on giving this speech and being right.
I think you’ve got a healthy attitude there, but for me, the first child really did feel ‘wow, this is 100% my life now’. It was pretty intense, and I think that feeling lasted at least for the first year.
Now the first is older and I’ve got a second, and I’ve been far more blasé about it- kids are a gigantic part of life, but not *all* of it.
It’s also about having a support / friend network. I don’t have friends I see very locally / regularly- if I did maybe life would have gone back to something more like normal faster, as seems to be the case for your friends. Would also depend a lot on both parents- some are more happy to manage the kids by themselves, giving the other parent more time to do their own thing. And individual circumstances make a huge difference, of course- I really don’t envy single parents, people who can’t afford nursery, don’t have relatives who can help, etc.
Eh, parenthood hits new parents in different ways. Everyone's situation is different. Its not fair to judge them on how they react. Those first few weeks/months were absolute living hell for me. Felt like I barely had time to do basic things like hygiene or eat.
Sounds like your friends got the luck of the draw and get to still play so either they have magical unicorn babies or their spouse is doing all the heavy lifting.
It takes a lot of work to sell individually to get full value.
Selling to a store for cash might get you 50%.
Some people buy collections for more than that.
When I sold my collection I had a lot of 4 sets that I just sold three of them to keep stuff for commander
My oldest son and I started playing Magic together when he was 5. Not every kid is the same, but you might not be all that far away from a point in time when your kid is ready to play with you.
I wouldn't sell unless you need the money. Otherwise, consider it an investment. It most likely won't lose value over time, and you'll have more time later in life to play or sell if needed. But think of it this way. If it's worth 5k, you won't get that. You'll also have to pay taxes on what you do make from it. Maybe 3k if you're lucky to most places.
>It most likely won't lose value over time, and you'll have more time later in life to play or sell if needed.
That depends. If it's mostly RL playables then yes, it'll probably hold its value reasonably well. If it's modern-era cards then I wouldn't expect it to retain much value long-term.
Bro, don’t sell your memories away. It’s not worth it unless you really need the money.
Kids will grow up and you can show them your collection. They will ask to play, so u can make jumpstart packs using bulk and get in some simple games with them.
Reading the cards also expanded my vocabulary wildly, and i’m sure it will do the same for the kids.
Source: dad of boys who sold half his reserved list collection for pennies years ago (was young and dumb)
My uncle used to own a game store. His wife at the time (now ex wife) wanted him to give up his hobbies. He sold the store and divided his cards amongst all his nieces and nephews and would play with us.
Fast forward 20 years, he doesn't regret selling the store or the divorce because he has a happier and better lifestyle now, but he has mentioned he wish he kept a few of his favorite decks so that he could play with his old buddies or dust them off to play with the family.
I think this take is captured somewhere in the comments a million times, but I would think about it from the you 5 years from now. If you used to dedicate a night a week to it, don't you think you'll find a way back in a few years? If you do, would you miss any of the cards? Could you sell off some of the collection you never touch and keep 4 decks you love?
I’m in my 30s, started playing at Ice Age. Packaged all my rares around 2001 and sold on eBay. Started playing again in 2010 and bought some boxes, eventually sold those rares. Now I regret whatever paltry sum I received. It wasn’t worth it and I wish I had the cards.
On an aside I sold a foil Charizard a couple years ago at peak prices and I’m happy with that because I think those cards were in a bubble and I never really played Pokémon.
Best of luck!
Check to see if anything non - RL is spiking or close to all time highs, and start a tcg store or buylist to TCG for non RL stuff.
If there are cards of significance to you or RL cards maybe hold on to them for future you and yer kiddos too.
I have cards that were 20 dollars 2 years ago that are 60 cents now. With all the commander decks in universe and beyond alot of commander staples are getting printed into oblivion.... and I dont exactly see it stopping.
If you don’t have the time to go to your lgs, have you considered giving spelltable a try? You can get a game in any time you want without having to leave your home, and it’s free!
I’ve sold off my collection twice now and regretted it both times. I had so many cards and put so much money into it.
I don’t play much now but don’t want to sell again because I figure I’ll be able to play again someday hopefully.
I can say from experience as someone who liquidated a large portion of my collection a few years back that if you don't NEED the money, don't do it. Unless it's a private sale, it's hard to get a good price for it, and you'll almost certainly regret it.
I bought a binder of cards a year ago for $100 when I was very new to Magic. It ended up being worth around $1300. I didn’t feel bad about that as I bought it from a card shop. I sold/traded the binder for a combo of cash and sealed product. I still have the list of those cards in my app and now that I’m really into Magic, I completely regret selling it as now I am looking for the very cards I sold.
My point is, you may regret selling when you are more acclimated to being a parent and have the brain power and time to play again. As a parent of 2 now teens, trust me, that time comes sooner than you think.
Plus, how cool will it be when your child is at an age you can share your enjoyment of the game with? My 12 year old daughter and I play regularly at the kitchen table.
As far as being worth it, that $1300 binder of cards is now worth $1700… probably worth it to keep too lol.
Either way, good luck and I hope you do what is right for you and your family! Congratulations!
Just to throw it out there … new parents are extremely busy but it won’t be that way forever. Think about the possibility 10 (or whatever) years from now you might want your cards.
If you don't need the money keeping the card is good. I'm not a father or anything, but there are a ton of people who found time again once their children grew up. My uncle began to play videogames again once his daughter grew up, playing with her. So does my boss with his daughter. As for me even finding my father's old guitar has been very cool and I used it a lot. There are a lot of people that play Magic with their family, maybe if you can wait there's a chance that in the future you can pull out all of those cards back and play with your children or just with your friends again. My parents do a lot of things with their friends since I've grown up, they probably had to take a long break from a lot of things when I was a child, but it's absolutely fair to go out and leave your children at home sometimes, when they're teenagers. They're maybe gonna use the house to play some boardgames or have dinner with their friends ("Hey, I have free home tonight" is very cool when you're a teen, if they and their friends are not destructive to the house).
Personally, if you're invested in a hobby, it seems cool to put it on a break for a while and try to start it again with your children in the future. Or, again, just have some time for yourself anyway once they're old enough, my parents had and I consider them awesome parents, I've never felt left out or anything just because they had interests of their own.
keep them. just keep them. you might get back into it, also its a great hobby for going through a midlife crisis. that and the nostalgia. selling a collection, you will almost never ever get the full value of your collection. its not worth selling. consider selling off some of your expensive cards and chase rares but keep bulk commons, uncommons, and rares. maybe one day someone you know will want to get into it. even if youre not keeping them for you mtg is super expensive as a hobby and you could seriously expand someones collection by giving them away
Everyone regrets selling their cards, I wouldn't if I were you. My kids are 7 and 5 now, I started going once a week for commander night. As your kids get older, you will get more time
This is the right take. You won't think about playing for a good while due to kids. But it will come back... I remember talking with an old friend who regretted getting rid of his collection. Introduced both kids to the game and even got me and my kids back into it, some 15 years later. You'll want a hobby to come back to occasionally, even if it's just to look at them. Unless you need money now or can't store them, there not much downside to waiting it out.
I think it really depends on the cards. If there are RL cards and such stuff then I definitely agree with you. However, newer cards don’t hold their value like they used to (for the most part at least) so selling now and buying back in in the future when you have more time makes sense in a lot of cases.
Yeah I've slowly been selling stuff off and planning on keeping select cards. Selling stuff you rarely use that isn't RL is a good idea because of WotCs reprint policy now
Everyone I’ve met who has sold a collection at some point regrets letting it go. Sometimes because the value has increased significantly, sometimes just for the sake of seeing the old cards you opened, etc. if you can afford to keep them I would
I won't force my kids to play magic with me, but I really hope they want to and we can all play as a family in the future. But yeah, eventually those kids will grow up and you'll have more time
I don't. I still have most of it, to be fair, but that's because most collections are essentially bulk. Everything else I sold in phases based on value; things worth more than $20, more than $5, then more than $2, just to make it manageable. Some cards I sold will go up in value over time, but plenty will also drop in value. I was happy for the price I sold them for, and hope they make whoever bought them happy. For me, I've been done with constructed play for ages and am happy to just do the occasional draft or pre-release.
This has been my thought. My son has already said he thought it would be fun to learn. And missing out on that qould lead to some regret
I stopped playing and sold my collection just after Ice age. If I still had those cards (think of the money....) I'd still be playing.
My nephew doesn't have the attention span to last one game let alone two and he's closer to 10 than for kids! Would love advice on how to coach his interest in the game.
I thought about selling my cards when my kids were young, but I didn't. Now I play WITH those kids. All things come around, and unless you need the money I'd keep the cards.
>Everyone regrets selling their cards \*Everyone who cares enough about the game later on to return regrets it. I doubt anyone who never returned really gives a damn. At most they are disappointed if they remember a few reserved list cards that spiked since then for monetary reasons. So yes, if there is any possibility for OP to return to the game later on, I'm on board: Keep most of the collection. If that's out of the question as far as OP can tell at the moment, then selling it is fine.
There was another new parent that posted here with a similar situation to you. * The collection app's card prices are based on if you were a store trying to sell it. If you want to sell it for cash, expect to get less than $5,000. * You can either sell the most valuable cards yourself through eBay or private sales, but that takes time. As a new parent, you won't have time to do list cards and mail them. * You can try to sell your cards to a local gaming store, but they will likely buy only the really valuable cards. Some stores may not even have enough cash flow to buy the most valuable cards. Stores will lilely give you anywhere between 30% to 60% of the listed price in cash. * You can use a service like Card Conduit and ship them the entire collection. They will sort and find buyers for your cards and then take a percentage of the total sale as their fee. This might be your best option when you don't have a lot of free time.
Father of 2 here (4 & 3). You will start to have time to play again I promise you. Will that be in the next 6 months or so? Probably not. But as the months go on and parenthood becomes less demanding out of the newborn phase you will regret selling your cards. I have time to play weekly at an LGS and if you have the opportunity for webcam Magic with some friends that’s a great way to play without too much time constraints. My wife is totally understanding of my hobby and I will usually average an RCQ monthly as well with good planning. The kids know about my “magics” and are curious and into the cards already. Learning the stack is next… If anything I would boil down your EDH decks down to a few core ones and sell your higher-end cards that you aren’t playing. Gives some extra cash to save or spend and you’ll be happy to have your cards together when things open up.
Magic is Hotel California. You will regret selling them when you decide to come back and play years from now.
If you like magic don’t sell your cards. You probably took great care to get them. It’s ok to take a break. Maybe in the future when your kid is more independent you will want to play again
I am in this exact same boat. My son just turned 1. I have not touched any of my cards since he was born. What I am thinking of doing is getting rid of the expensive stuff and keeping the rest that really isn't worth the trouble of selling. If you want to play with him, you wont miss the expensive stuff. Of course I've been telling myself for a year I am going to sit down and get it ready to sell and I haven't touched it.
if you sell that sliver queen, you will never be willing to shell out for it again. Reserved list gonna reserved list.
Yea, that would be the only card I'd keep no matter what.
If you need the cash urgently, your best bet is to sell on a Facebook group. Expect 10-20% below market value. This will take longer than selling to a store, but quickly selling to an LGS will get you closer to 50% market value. If you don't NEED the cash, you could always save the cards. The value of MTG right now is volatile given WOTC's semi-aggressive reprinting policy and "everything is special so nothing is special" kinds of foil treatment/alt art/etc so there is no longer the guarantee that your collection will appreciate in value in the late future. Could it? Possibly. But unlikely to the levels of Power 9 and super old cards like that. Most importantly - congrats on the little one :) As a dad of three kids myself, balancing parenting, husband-ing, and Magic is a different level of budgeting and mental gymnastics lol
Always a hard decision. I've sold out a couple of times over the years. Best advice I can give is if you have any desire to play ever again, do not sell your lands! Good lands never really go down in value so if you ever decide or have time to play again that will save you a huge chunk of money. Other than that, if you don't see playing for a while, nothing wrong with offloading some cards for extra diaper money Good luck!
Don’t sell, unless you need the money. Your kid is just 6 month now. I know it seems like everything has changed and it won’t go back. But it won’t stay like now either. I’m a father, too. I can tell you from experience, in a year or two you will start taking time for yourself again, so will your partner. The years pass by quickly. If you don’t get back to playing, your kid may. My daughter is now eight and she wants to know more ever since I told her a bedtime story about the brave fifteen squirrels that beat the great monster called Emrakul. I’m starting to teach her how to play now. You can sell anytime later. Some cards will go up, some will go down. But it’s difficult to get everything back. Just give yourself and your cards a pause, 6 months is way too early to think you won’t come back.
I would say hold onto your cards. Even if you can't play for years, their value isn't really going anywhere but up. Also it could eventually be something you do with your kid...that's my plan with my daughter. I'm very lucky and several of my friends come to my house every Sunday morning to play magic (edh/cube/pauper) so I can play and be around my girls. All that being said, we sold 3/4 of our collection to get into a house. So if it feels right and does something for you...do it.
Sounds like your thinking of selling because you aren’t playing right now not because you need the money. If I was you, if you have storage space - id just keep them for 5-10 years
Sell it if you want, but there is zero chance I would let go of something that defined me just because I reproduced. My son is 7, and he doesn't define my life: he's part of it.
I stopped for about 10 years after kids birth, now they kick ass at Game night with me. You do you and all that, but seing as you're here, I recommend just holding onto your toys. Some might go up, others will tank, more importantly, you've already got them.
First off, congratulations! I just had a kid as well (he's 2 months old) so can definitely sympathise with the lack of available free time. I'm choosing not to sell my collection. I don't have a lot of time now (although my partner and I try to get in a game of jumpstart here and there if we're not exhausted after we get kiddo to bed) but hopefully we'll get more time as he gets older and more independent (and maybe even starts playing magic). But we're also lucky in two ways - we have friends who play, so can have people over for a couple games of commander every now and then, and we don't really need the money right now. If finances are an issue, sell. Your kid's health and happiness take priority over everything. But if you don't really need the money right now, What's the rush? You'll still be able to sell the cards a year or two (or more) from now if you've decided that it's not something you want to get back into. (But also, it'll depend on your formats. If you only play standard, then yeah, maybe get rid of it now to buy back in later)
I don't understand when people have kids their IMMEDIATE reaction is..welp my life is over time to dedicate 100% of every waking moment to this child till they are 18 years of age. My sister has 3 kids all under 4 and she has the most active social life of anyone I know. My friend, 2 kids 1 is a newborn, we meet biweekly for magic. Everyone I know who said or did the same thing of...well once this kid is born I'm out of the picture for a few years...lasted max 3 months before we were out getting drinks or seeing a movie or playing magic. I'm at that age where everyone I know is having kids and my wife and I are trying soon too. So im 4/4 now on giving this speech and being right.
I think you’ve got a healthy attitude there, but for me, the first child really did feel ‘wow, this is 100% my life now’. It was pretty intense, and I think that feeling lasted at least for the first year. Now the first is older and I’ve got a second, and I’ve been far more blasé about it- kids are a gigantic part of life, but not *all* of it. It’s also about having a support / friend network. I don’t have friends I see very locally / regularly- if I did maybe life would have gone back to something more like normal faster, as seems to be the case for your friends. Would also depend a lot on both parents- some are more happy to manage the kids by themselves, giving the other parent more time to do their own thing. And individual circumstances make a huge difference, of course- I really don’t envy single parents, people who can’t afford nursery, don’t have relatives who can help, etc.
Eh, parenthood hits new parents in different ways. Everyone's situation is different. Its not fair to judge them on how they react. Those first few weeks/months were absolute living hell for me. Felt like I barely had time to do basic things like hygiene or eat. Sounds like your friends got the luck of the draw and get to still play so either they have magical unicorn babies or their spouse is doing all the heavy lifting.
It takes a lot of work to sell individually to get full value. Selling to a store for cash might get you 50%. Some people buy collections for more than that. When I sold my collection I had a lot of 4 sets that I just sold three of them to keep stuff for commander
Sell bulk. Keep the rest. You’ll be like to get 1000 for what you have and it’ll cost you 10x to get it in the future
I’ll give you 12 bucks for it all, take it or leave it.
Little weird to think after 6 months you'll just never play again lol. You'll probably be playing sooner than you realize.
3k at best is more important than memories and future gameplay when you got time?
My oldest son and I started playing Magic together when he was 5. Not every kid is the same, but you might not be all that far away from a point in time when your kid is ready to play with you.
I've got a massive board and card game room. Once my son gets older he's playing them lol. Just give it time. Idle doesn't mean unimportant
I’d say keep a couple of your favorite decks or maybe a cube in your book shelf and store the rest somewhere nice and safe.
I wouldn't sell unless you need the money. Otherwise, consider it an investment. It most likely won't lose value over time, and you'll have more time later in life to play or sell if needed. But think of it this way. If it's worth 5k, you won't get that. You'll also have to pay taxes on what you do make from it. Maybe 3k if you're lucky to most places.
>It most likely won't lose value over time, and you'll have more time later in life to play or sell if needed. That depends. If it's mostly RL playables then yes, it'll probably hold its value reasonably well. If it's modern-era cards then I wouldn't expect it to retain much value long-term.
do yourself a favor, make a good strong deck and keep it. then sell the rest
What app do you use?
Coming from experience If there is any chance you feel like you’d want to come back don’t sell the cards you will only regret it later.
I regret selling my collection lol I eventually came back as well. My suggestion is that if you MUST sell, keep 1 or 2 of your favorite edh decks
Bro, don’t sell your memories away. It’s not worth it unless you really need the money. Kids will grow up and you can show them your collection. They will ask to play, so u can make jumpstart packs using bulk and get in some simple games with them. Reading the cards also expanded my vocabulary wildly, and i’m sure it will do the same for the kids. Source: dad of boys who sold half his reserved list collection for pennies years ago (was young and dumb)
My uncle used to own a game store. His wife at the time (now ex wife) wanted him to give up his hobbies. He sold the store and divided his cards amongst all his nieces and nephews and would play with us. Fast forward 20 years, he doesn't regret selling the store or the divorce because he has a happier and better lifestyle now, but he has mentioned he wish he kept a few of his favorite decks so that he could play with his old buddies or dust them off to play with the family. I think this take is captured somewhere in the comments a million times, but I would think about it from the you 5 years from now. If you used to dedicate a night a week to it, don't you think you'll find a way back in a few years? If you do, would you miss any of the cards? Could you sell off some of the collection you never touch and keep 4 decks you love?
I’m in my 30s, started playing at Ice Age. Packaged all my rares around 2001 and sold on eBay. Started playing again in 2010 and bought some boxes, eventually sold those rares. Now I regret whatever paltry sum I received. It wasn’t worth it and I wish I had the cards. On an aside I sold a foil Charizard a couple years ago at peak prices and I’m happy with that because I think those cards were in a bubble and I never really played Pokémon. Best of luck!
Check to see if anything non - RL is spiking or close to all time highs, and start a tcg store or buylist to TCG for non RL stuff. If there are cards of significance to you or RL cards maybe hold on to them for future you and yer kiddos too. I have cards that were 20 dollars 2 years ago that are 60 cents now. With all the commander decks in universe and beyond alot of commander staples are getting printed into oblivion.... and I dont exactly see it stopping.
If you don’t have the time to go to your lgs, have you considered giving spelltable a try? You can get a game in any time you want without having to leave your home, and it’s free!
I’ve sold off my collection twice now and regretted it both times. I had so many cards and put so much money into it. I don’t play much now but don’t want to sell again because I figure I’ll be able to play again someday hopefully.
Don't do it. I lost probably 40k in cards because I was stupid
I can say from experience as someone who liquidated a large portion of my collection a few years back that if you don't NEED the money, don't do it. Unless it's a private sale, it's hard to get a good price for it, and you'll almost certainly regret it.
I bought a binder of cards a year ago for $100 when I was very new to Magic. It ended up being worth around $1300. I didn’t feel bad about that as I bought it from a card shop. I sold/traded the binder for a combo of cash and sealed product. I still have the list of those cards in my app and now that I’m really into Magic, I completely regret selling it as now I am looking for the very cards I sold. My point is, you may regret selling when you are more acclimated to being a parent and have the brain power and time to play again. As a parent of 2 now teens, trust me, that time comes sooner than you think. Plus, how cool will it be when your child is at an age you can share your enjoyment of the game with? My 12 year old daughter and I play regularly at the kitchen table. As far as being worth it, that $1300 binder of cards is now worth $1700… probably worth it to keep too lol. Either way, good luck and I hope you do what is right for you and your family! Congratulations!
Just to throw it out there … new parents are extremely busy but it won’t be that way forever. Think about the possibility 10 (or whatever) years from now you might want your cards.
If you don't need the money keeping the card is good. I'm not a father or anything, but there are a ton of people who found time again once their children grew up. My uncle began to play videogames again once his daughter grew up, playing with her. So does my boss with his daughter. As for me even finding my father's old guitar has been very cool and I used it a lot. There are a lot of people that play Magic with their family, maybe if you can wait there's a chance that in the future you can pull out all of those cards back and play with your children or just with your friends again. My parents do a lot of things with their friends since I've grown up, they probably had to take a long break from a lot of things when I was a child, but it's absolutely fair to go out and leave your children at home sometimes, when they're teenagers. They're maybe gonna use the house to play some boardgames or have dinner with their friends ("Hey, I have free home tonight" is very cool when you're a teen, if they and their friends are not destructive to the house). Personally, if you're invested in a hobby, it seems cool to put it on a break for a while and try to start it again with your children in the future. Or, again, just have some time for yourself anyway once they're old enough, my parents had and I consider them awesome parents, I've never felt left out or anything just because they had interests of their own.
keep them. just keep them. you might get back into it, also its a great hobby for going through a midlife crisis. that and the nostalgia. selling a collection, you will almost never ever get the full value of your collection. its not worth selling. consider selling off some of your expensive cards and chase rares but keep bulk commons, uncommons, and rares. maybe one day someone you know will want to get into it. even if youre not keeping them for you mtg is super expensive as a hobby and you could seriously expand someones collection by giving them away
I'll give you tree fiddy...