So last night I was dealing with a bad bout of depression. Full on 'the world will be a better place without me' type depression. I quietly suffered through it as usual, and just hoped tomorrow would look brighter. After work I decided to go hang out with a couple friends of mine and have a few drinks, because honestly I wasn't sure I should be alone. We were hanging out and talking about the new Fallout, when surprisingly I got handed a stack of Magic cards.
I have been a huge fan of Magic the Gathering ever since I was a child. I started playing when Revised edition was released back in 1994 and have been off and on ever since. My favorite creatures are the Slivers, and my favorite color is black with red a close second. I own a Modern format deck worth a couple hundred dollars and my collection has somewhere between 15 and 20 thousand cards in it. I have no idea how much the entire thing is worth, but if you were to break it all up it might be a couple of grand. I would never do this because money is simply useful and Magic is something I love.
To put it into perspective, when I was in high school I didn't go to class much. Most of what they were teaching were things I already knew, or didn't care about. Instead I would wander around Bozeman picking up spare change off of the street and go to one of the local shops to buy cards. I spent hours flipping through cards and imagining the worlds these beautiful pieces of card stock depicted. I still think, to this day, that this was a better expenditure of my time, and it went on for years.
Now there are a number of highly sought after cards for reasons of monetary worth, rarity, and top level play, but one card is always talked about, the infamous Black Lotus. You hear about it in shops and peoples basements. Even people who just know Magic players hear about this card, and often remember the sound of awe and want in players voices when they talk about it. As I said it is a rare thing to find and in the 21 years I've been playing the only time I had seen one was a color copy print that another friend of mines little brother had made to play with, or a bad fake to put it another way. I've played all over the country looked in shops and private collections and had never seen a real one until last night.
I have been a huge fan of Magic the Gathering ever since I was a child. I started playing when Revised edition was released back in 1994 and have been off and on ever since. My favorite creatures are the Slivers, and my favorite color is black with red a close second. I own a Modern format deck worth a couple hundred dollars and my collection has somewhere between 15 and 20 thousand cards in it. I have no idea how much the entire thing is worth, but if you were to break it all up it might be a couple of grand. I would never do this because money is simply useful and Magic is something I love.
To put it into perspective, when I was in high school I didn't go to class much. Most of what they were teaching were things I already knew, or didn't care about. Instead I would wander around Bozeman picking up spare change off of the street and go to one of the local shops to buy cards. I spent hours flipping through cards and imagining the worlds these beautiful pieces of card stock depicted. I still think, to this day, that this was a better expenditure of my time, and it went on for years.
Now there are a number of highly sought after cards for reasons of monetary worth, rarity, and top level play, but one card is always talked about, the infamous Black Lotus. You hear about it in shops and peoples basements. Even people who just know Magic players hear about this card, and often remember the sound of awe and want in players voices when they talk about it. As I said it is a rare thing to find and in the 21 years I've been playing the only time I had seen one was a color copy print that another friend of mines little brother had made to play with, or a bad fake to put it another way. I've played all over the country looked in shops and private collections and had never seen a real one until last night.
Not the best picture, but I don't care and you can find super clean pics on the net if you like. Nore is this the rarest edition of this card, but I spent 20 minutes looking it over and it checked out on all the little discrepancies that it should have from that edition. In mint condition this one card goes for about 6 grand. Which means it is technically worth more than my entire collection. I am still reeling from getting to hold it (literally took it out of its protective sleeves and touched it), but quite possibly the happiest moment I've had in many years.
Take that depression.
