How can you pick only one or two decks?

[dave78pdx]

Hi. My name is Dave, and I am a MtG addict. :wink:

Seriously, though... Ever since I got back in to MtG I have been a terrible deck hopper. I'll play something for a couple months then get bored with it and move on to the next thing. Got pretty expensive over time. So many cards that I have an affection for. So many decks with so many memories.

Now, I am busy with my kids most of the time. Rarely get out of the house to play. My game is confined to MTGO mostly. Modern & Legacy leagues are allowing me to get my fix.

With added real life responsibility, and dwindling "me" time... I'm finding that this collection of cardboard is too much to keep around.... I need to pick a deck or two and let the rest go. Tidy up my bookshelf and pay off some debt.

But, how do I pick? It's one thing when you are just getting in to a deck and trying to find the right one... But, when you've played so many decks and still have all the cards... How do you pick one to keep? How do you let go of the rest?

[CutthroatCasual]

Mostly my budget. I've got about $7500 locked up in just 2 Legacy decks.

I like to have (at least) one "competitive" deck that I can spend most of my time learning and taking to events to [hopefully] do well with, and then the other be a pet deck that may or may not be competitive, however is one that I simply like playing, win or lose.

[jandax]

You just haven't found the archetype that suits you best. When you find the deck, you'll know it. Clichés ftw

[Hopo]

If you have the habit of getting fed up with a deck after playing with it for a while, it's probably a bad idea to try to only own a deck or two. The result is a pile of expensive cards that you don't want to play with. So either keep your cards and play what feels good on a given day or sell them all and get more money.

[CabalTherapy]

But, how do I pick?

Play some games with your decks, close your eyes, feel the power and say: "that's what I want to do: I want to vial in some dudes/I want to kill my opps with Tendrils/ I want to burn them to death/ I want to durdle around and play one spell that wins." That's how I joined the circle of rituals, therapies, and diamonds quite a while ago, and stayed there. :cool:

[Noctalor]

Start to play foil japanese only, you wont have enough money to play more than 1/2 decks

[Megadeus]

Just own blue duals, wastes, LEDs, and forces. After that most everything is fairly cheap and you have extreme flexibility in deck choice

[Spam]

Play some games with your decks, close your eyes, feel the power and say: "that's what I want to do: I want to vial in some dudes/I want to kill my opps with Tendrils/ I want to burn them to death/ I want to durdle around and play one spell that wins." That's how I joined the circle of rituals, therapies, and diamonds quite a while ago, and stayed there. :cool:
That's the way to go! Personally, I love any unfair thing you can do in this game, so I'll gravitate towards any tipe of strategies that allows me to do that. Emrakull turn 3? Tendrils turn 1? I'm in!
Some will say it's unfunn for your opponent, but who cares!

Inviato dal mio LG-D605 utilizzando Tapatalk

[(nameless one)]

I am an idiot and sold my duals thinking I'm done with Legacy. Now I can't buy them back.

Now I'm stuck with mono-Wasteland/non-dual land decks.

[nedleeds]

I own 8 of mostly everything. I don't own decks. I own cards. Every week I'm OCD, I take apart whatever pile I played with and resort the cards.

[alphastryk]

Laziness. I play magic maybe a few times a month and usually only take the time to tweak a few cards before I head to the store.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

I don't own decks. I own cards.
geezos kreist...


The best way how to keep just one or two decks is to have the most of their price locked in the manabase and then have the resto of the cards making up a totally different archetype like e.g.
UWx Blade // Miracles or
UBx Delver // Storm or
GW Tress // Maverick or
Dragon // Eldrazi Stompy or
Sac Lands Tendrils // Balancing Tings

[MGB]

I am an idiot and sold my duals thinking I'm done with Legacy. Now I can't buy them back.

Now I'm stuck with mono-Wasteland/non-dual land decks.

If you were certain enough that you were quitting Legacy/Magic when you sold your dual lands. what made you come back to the game?

I feel as if when it comes time for me to sell my Magic cards, I will be sure enough that I don't want to play the game anymore that I will never want to buy them back.

[Tormod]

Keeping all my shit so my kids can play Legacy with me.

[H]

Keeping all my shit so my kids can play Legacy with me.

Word. #6 is on the way for me, no way none of them want to play eventually.

Honestly, if I could only play one or two decks though, I'd probably just quit.

[Ace/Homebrew]

Word. #6 is on the way for me, no way none of them want to play eventually.

Honestly, if I could only play one or two decks though, I'd probably just quit.
Are you trying to get a show on TLC?

19 (Legacy decks) and Counting.

[H]

Are you trying to get a show on TLC?

19 (Legacy decks) and Counting.

Definitely done with making kids after this one. Not done making Legacy decks though, :cool:

Pretty sure I'm at more than 19 decks...just not all at once.

[tescrin]

I just basically went nuts and bought duals and wastes and Forces over time over the last few years. The legacy staples pretty much stagnate or go up, so they're generally as safe as your bank account but the money isn't just sitting there doing nothing. That's how I justify it to myself anyway.

I just started cheap, bought staples that were used in several decks, then continued doing that until I had a land base that could build most colors, then bought specifics of decks that I was likely to play that weren't insane.

Certainly if you start with lands, move to Tin Fins, and end on 4c Deathblade you'll have build as suboptimally as possible. But I did something like:
Budget GBx (terrible mana base, DRS, Decay, Pulse, etc..)
Nic Fit (Fetches, Shocks)
Pox (Wastelands, Liliana, fetches)
Junk-Loam (Loam, Bayou, Scrubland)
Junk (more of the same)
Jund/Aggro Loam (badlands, groves, etc.)

and at that point started buying blue duals knowing I'd eventually want to brew and wanted to avoid further spiking.

[(nameless one)]

If you were certain enough that you were quitting Legacy/Magic when you sold your dual lands. what made you come back to the game?

I feel as if when it comes time for me to sell my Magic cards, I will be sure enough that I don't want to play the game anymore that I will never want to buy them back.

I sold them because I got too busy with life. But as time goes, I meet new people that also happen to play Magic. This whole cycle draws me back to the game.

[jrsthethird]

But at some point you have to realize the cycle and stop selling out. I did it once, never again.

[dave78pdx]

I'm not trying to sell everything... Just trying to narrow my focus with regard to Magic and pay off some debt.

Real talk: Magic has helped me accrue a bit of debt and I worry that debt may be holding me back from getting in to a new house, etc. I need to take care of my family first.

The trap(s) that my train of thought gets me in to... Wanting to keep a blue deck and a non-blue deck... Wanting to keep a competitive deck and a pet deck (and another pet deck). Wanting to play the same basic archetype in Modern and Legacy....

The big one, though... If I keep stuff for one deck then I can keep a few extra cards and shift to a 2nd deck, and a few extra cards to move in to a 3rd deck, etc, etc... UR Delver is my baby (since before Cruise/Dig, TYVM)... I play it in Modern and Legacy... Foils, promos and signed cards... But, I also want to hold on to stuff to switch to Grixis or Patriot, depending on my mood/meta...But, I also want a non-blue option... I have another Modern/Legacy convertible deck box of Elves (which I switch up to Abzan Company in Modern or Nic Fit in Legacy)... Another M/L convertible deck for Affinity... But, then there are my pet decks (Soul Sisters, U-Tron)... And, if I am keeping all that, then why not keep more cards that fit in-between and can make even more decks.... Ugh... Then, I'm not giving up much of my collection after all. :tongue:

I've been actively selling off the chaff from my collection... I've binderized all the good stuff and sold all the bulk rares or odd stuff that I just wouldn't use. Still sitting on several thousand commons and uncommons that I need to bulk out, too.

In reality, I'm a big boy and I can buy back a card if I really want it for a deck. The cards that I keep are to be the cards that I use. I don't expect to hold on to anything that I wouldn't immediately use.

[Quasim0ff]

I had the same dilemma as you;

I had mostly everything for the various versions of delver, Miracles, Shardless - Most blue decks.

I also played BUG Fish in vintage, and had the power for that. I simply decided that I needed the money now, more than the off-chance I might want to play X deck again; if I wanted to, I could likely borrow the cards - hence I sold mostly everything besides my Miracles deck, as that's what I liked to play most at that time.

I paid off all the debt I gained from collecting magic, as well as it made it possible for me and my girlfriend to buy an apartment in Copenhagen, while we were both studying.

I haven't regretted it once, since.

Force yourself to a decission (You prefer Delver? Stick with Grixis Delver + Modern cards) and sell the rest. Don't keep decks you won't play. Most of us don't have time to both play our "competitive" as well as "pet deck" enough to warrant a 5000$ binder.

Decide what you WANT to be playing, when you have time. You can always get cards later, if you severely want to play that deck again.