Hey y'all - so it's been a while since the death of PucaTrade and we've all had to (maybe somewhat) reorganize our trading/selling/buying behaviours. With that said, we've all seen some unprecedented changes on the WotC/Hasbro side of things, particular with the quantity of products being released, number of variants, an increase in direct-to-consumer distribution, and some others.

Wanted to get the temperature of the community here about how people are generally feeling about the state of things, and what impacts this all is having on you and your engagement with the game? Personally, I've dialed back a lot of my collecting - I've always been a collector of the game first, and for a while I was trying to keep up with the products being released (I went so far as to try and collect of foil copy of each card/variant released). Now I've realized how foolish a goal that is (thanks Collector Boosters) and have done away with all variants/reprints effectively, and am only getting redeemed complete foil sets from MTGO, and only the non-reprint base foil cards from supplemental products. This has simplified my life immensely and no longer have to struggle to keep up the number of products/cards coming out with every set. The shelves that support my collection also no longer sag under the sheer mass of the collection.

How do you all engage with the game now, and do you see anymore changes for yourself on the horizon? Also, fuck Hasbro and their tone-deaf, corporate bullshit-laden fireside chats.

I've seen a few of the folks in my playgroup totally disengage from the new sets. Like, "put the cards down, walk away and maybe pull an old deck out once in a while to catch up with the buddies"-level of disengagement.
I saw an article a few weeks ago stating that there have been so many reprints that it's tanked the commander singles market for LGSs and online card stores, which is an absolutely remarkable effort on WotC's part (and I think I'd actually believe this is true, too - I am constantly being surprised by how bargain-basement the pricing on some previously expensive cards is.
Definitely still trading, and probably moving more towards cube at the moment (given it's a set power level for the playgroup, and doesn't involve an arms race for anybody).
But trading is harder (and I definitely miss Puca). ;(

I know someone who got proxies for like 12 different pre-War of the Spark legacy decks. I was also disengaged from modern for almost a year because every deck I wanted to play needed a playset of Ragavans or Solitudes, til I found HammerTime, although I've just been jamming humans lately.

I've personally stopped buying any magic until I've paid off my CC and rebuilt some savings. I've only played EDH for a long time now, but I primarily play on Arena at this point as I haven't been in an LGS since before Covid. I'm currently trying to think about what to do with the tons of bulk I have and or the largish pile of $5-$15 cards I have set aside "in-case" I use them for a EDH deck. I've considered paring down some of my real $$ cards that are sitting in binders. I feel like I'll always be engaged one way or another with MTG even if I someday divest myself of everything.

Celeborn wrote:I feel like I'll always be engaged one way or another with MTG even if I someday divest myself of everything.

I just went through the process of stripping down my collection significantly. I've been a collector since the days of Ice Age, and for most of that time I was heavily trading/collecting towards one copy of every card (including all variants). I've since realized the folly of that approach and have moved towards only have the base set in foil, which I can redeem on MTGO, and then any individual unique cards released in supplemental products, but only the base versions of those as well.

I'm tired of continuing to play WotC's game and have lost a lot of confidence in the company as a whole. While I'm not completely out, I think my engagement is at an all time low, but I don't think that's a bad thing, honestly. I've freed up a lot more time to pursue other interests and hobbies with my free time, so it's been a net positive. Plus the influx of cash from selling my personal collection has been nice.

I'm proxying a lot more and not worrying about actually getting the cards at some point, because it's so much harder to trade on here versus Puca and the trading scene at my LGS sucks. But the amount I'm playing or spending hasn't changed. I dropped a ton of money at MagicFest Vegas (although most of that was on artists)

My story is pretty sad, I basically quit MTG for a temporary hiatus about a month ago. With product fatigue, I reduced my buying a lot. With magic 30, I reduced my buying of sealed product to 0. Then my schedule got extra busy due to family, and between the product fatigue, regular fatigue, and WOTC just being a shitty company, and also not having a stable playgroup in like 7-8 years I just gave up. I've been buying a few retro-frame singles I want from BRO and DOM Remastered, but I stopped even TRYING to get a weekly game in or even build decks.

I've basically reduced my spending to prereleases and FNM (but only for commander night, so the lowest entry). It's been good to actually play with my cards. I've managed to get over the feelings of wanting to get every card in a set that I think I'd like. Now, I'll still list them on my wants, but I no longer feel pressured to acquire them. Overall, I'm slowly drifting away from Magic due to the pace of release and the introduction of Universes Beyond, but it's my main (and largely my only) hobby, so I'll keep enjoying it while I can. Like Celeborn said, "I feel like I'll always be engaged one way or another with MTG even if I someday divest myself of everything."

My Merfolk Collection is still going strong. I guess _that_ is actually where I spend the most money (usually only when there's a kickback on TCGPlayer). I'm pretty close to getting caught up (though Lost Caverns of Ixalan are going to set me back a _lot_). Here's what I still need.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ht5fbDmtl1_6ywbRp4UAv1wfNp7WkPCe4_8VwJsebbo/edit#gid=0

i don't really play magic much anymore, i've trimmed my collection and started working on my playsets, mainly of lands that i know will hold value down the road.