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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1143 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 15, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I recently stumbled upon my childhood Pokemon card collection. I had a couple binders sitting in storage for many years and now I finally have some time to catalog and sell them.

Aside from being a trip down memory lane, it has been quite a treasure hunt. My ten-year-old self organized them by color, and at some point later I took a bunch of them out to play with and never put them back. I have since learned that there are a couple of gems in there - who would've thought that a promotional card received in a magazine, or one that came with a movie ticket, would have resale value twenty-five years in the future? And then recently I learned about misprinted cards - apparently there are a handful of known typos or printing mistakes that can 10x the price of a card.

I had some family who went to Japan, came to visit my family in the US, and brought me a couple packs of Japanese cards. I didn't know anyone who could read Japanese during that time, and there were no easily accessible translation services, so they remained a mystery for many years. I remember getting on the internet in the early 2000s and finding a website where someone posted their English translations, and I copied a bunch of them down into post-it notes that I stuck to the back of the card.

There must be a bunch of 90s kids in here - what happened to your collection?

I was too old for Pokemon. I sold off my MTG collection in 2004. I occasionally look at the current prices on cards I had and suffer the agony of knowing I could've bought a luxury car had I kept them and sold in 2015 or later.

I still have my old Pokémon binder. The outside is pretty beat up but the cards are all perfectly preserved in their 9 card page sleeves. It’s a pity they didn’t have the xeno skin quad row’s back at the time I was collecting. The collector industry has considerably stepped up its game in the decades since. I still have all my old MTG decks but WOTC has changed far too much to desire to play a Friday night game at the card shop with friends. I hate EDH and the move from competitive to casual formats has increased market share but greatly diminished the diehard fan base and pool of serious players. Used to occasionally check out TCC but not much anymore and in years.

What’s wrong with EDH?

It’s hard for me to tell what a more accessible, casual format does to the other formats.

I don't enjoy EDH either. I haven't played cEDH, it might be more my speed, but the casual EDH games I've played are all about each player durdling around to put together their fun theme or whatever, and I get the clear impression that people dislike interaction or even attempting to win. For me the whole enjoyment of MTG is the challenge and puzzle of outplaying an opponent. EDH in my opinion just doesn't have that.

I don’t like EDH specifically because it’s a more casual format. I used to play the game semi-seriously but also occasionally followed the professional circuit back in the day. Brian Kibler was my guy to watch back then. Loved his deck constructions because he and I built in a similar way. It’s meant over the years that less ordinary people are interested in serious competitive play, to really bring to bear the kind of ingenuity a smart player can bring to his opponent.

I still have all my old MTG decks

What era(s)?

7th all the way to about Ravnica or a little beyond. Also have a minority collection of Alpha and Beta.

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