The best thing that ever happened to me is the day I lost my cool and cursed out a Magic Online player. I was reported and a few days later found I couldn’t access my account. I have never cursed anyone out in my life, but such is the influence of Magic.

At first I thought, wow, all the money gone in a flash. I was a bit sick. But then I felt a lot better. I realized what a release it was not to have that old Magic monkey on my back. Getting banned was the best thing that could have happened to me. I deleted MTGO from my computer and never looked back.

[...] kind of hobbies taken to extreme — some hobbies can be really expensive. I still remember my Magic: The Gathering days [...]

I’d have to agree with those comments advocating board games. There are some really good ones out there, many of which have already been mentioned (unfortunately, you won’t find them on the shelf of your local department store).

One of my favorites might appeal to this crowd…it’s called Modern Art (don’t let the title fool you…it’s far more about creating a market than the art itself). Each player runs an art auction house and is trying to turn a profit by buying low and selling high. It’s card based and very easy to set up (unlike, say, Settlers of Catan or Puerto Rico…both great games, but not so quick to get started).

As far as cheap Magic alternatives go, I like Dungeons and Dragons. Sure, it’s a completely different game, but surprisingly enough, there’s a huge overlap of people who enjoy the two games. Instead of spending $80 every 3-4 months on the new Magic set, you only need the one time expense of dice and the core rulebooks (around $70 altogether.) If you like to use premade adventures, you can start with just the Player Handbook ($20), dice ($3-$8), and a premade adventure ($10-$20) every few months, and the best part is that these costs aren’t repeated with each player, so the cost is around $1 per month per player plus startup cost of $5 per player. Since I’ve gotten a regular group to play with a few months ago, I simply stopped going to the local game shop to play Magic without even trying.

Boardgames are another cheap alternative that do double duty as party activities, as they are far more accessible to casual players. Chess, Settlers of Catan, Blokus, Carcassonne, Elfenland, and San Juan are all fun games that have the challenges of strategic planning and adapting to your opponent’s strategy, without the frustration of mana screw, combo decks that play solitaire, or control decks that don’t allow you to play the game.

Wow, I am a huge game nerd. =)

[...] or drastically cut back? J.D @ Get Rich Slowly shared yesterday that he recently got bitten by an old Magic The Gathering addiction to the tune of $161. Let’s start by getting the problem out in the open and listing the [...]

http://www.lorax.org/~cwarren/twilight/printable_pages.html

it’s somebody’s homebrew expansion pack for magic, about 330 cards worth, and they look pretty good too. So maybe all you need to play something similar to MTG is an internet connection, a color printer, and google.

But it is kinda cute.

psssss…I’m a Mac geek so sometimes I fall off and spend TONS of money on vintage macs (I just sold off my collection), new stuff, and Mac paraphernalia

Hey we all can’t be perfect!

So in 6 years I’ve accumulated over 100,000 cards and never put in a dime. My advice to you is: get better at Magic!

Actually, I hardly ever play anymore because my wife hates it so much (I used to play a lot). In fact, she prefers I play online poker! At least there, when she complains I can have them send me money that she can spend, rather than just accumulating more cards.

Thanks for the post and the reminder to focus on what is most important.

I’m just going to get back on track now. I didn’t stray too badly, and I’ll still have my credit cards paid off in October, on schedule, so I guess I shouldn’t beat myself up over it too much.

It’s so frustrating b/c I know buying clothes is unnecessary (it’s not like I don’t have enough at home). I think once I have the credit cards paid off entirely and I’m paying cash for this stuff, funding my IRA, AND savings accounts more, I might not feel as guilty about it…can’t wait for October.

[...] Money Mistakes: That Old Black Magic I strongly identify with this article. I’ve attended exactly one tournament since getting my financial house in order. I happened to win it and sell the cards I won to make a profit, but without that victory, it would have been a financially painful day. It’s very fun but just far too expensive to enjoy. (@ get rich slowly) [...]

Now that I play poker, I have only one deck to worry about, and it usually makes me a little coin.

So does anyone know of any good non-collectible card games that play in the style of Magic? That would solve the personal finance angle of this, because then you could just buy the base game and go at it, without there being $8 booster packs to buy. I’ve read about Hero Card, but any others?

JD at least you have realised after a week rather than a year.

There are two types of diversions. One designed to relieve stress and the other is to procrastinate something more important.

The latter is the dangerous one.

I’m really glad I never picked up MTG, it seems like its a huge timesuck and it costs a lot of money to play. What a combination!

If you just bought the cards and they’re in mint condition chances are you could probably sell them and make up a bit of the money you spent.

If you put time into it you might even come out ahead.

Then again, you could alway just keep the cards and play with them. Stop playing draft and try to build a couple of decks that can play each other.

I don’t really get Magic online, it always seemed kind of strange to buy virtual cards.