Heh, it's been more than a year since my last Magic: the Gathering related post. There's a good reason for that - I've quit playing Magic. I actually quit a long time ago, way before that last post. If you wanted to trace it, it'll probably easily go back two years or so.
So why did I quit this time around? There's probably tons of reasons, but I suppose I'll list a few reasons why I've quit Magic:
1. Video gaming - Magic cards were a relatively cheap way to get hundreds of hours of entertainment. There's no telling how much just looking at card lists (not even the cards themselves) took out of my time. I spent hours visiting my favourite game store (now closed) looking through commons, discussing strategies, playing some games with other people there. I did scrounge for commons every once in a while in Australia at the Dungeon of Magic in Melbourne, but that was it. Now what takes up that time? Video games. Not to the same extent as Magic used to, but it most certainly is what I'm more inclined to now.
2. Lack of people to play with - I like playing with friends - and greatly dislike going to tournaments. I've built many tournament worthy decks, be it by proxy, in Magic Workstation or even with cards I owned. While I did teach a few friends to play Magic in 2006, they lost interest the following year. Interest in it just waned in general because they picked up another more addictive card game - poker. I still play a game or two with Chewxy over Magic Workstation, but essentially I've stopped playing. A lack of people to try new interesting decks against and a lack of people who are interested in playing interesting decks just plainly stopped me from trying out new decks of any kind.
3. Lack of money to play more seriously - Despite the fact that I do dislike going to tournaments, I do like playing at them. Being among peers who play better decks and make less mistakes is a great challenge, and while I'm not very good at playing Magic, at the very least, it's better, more challenging and more exciting when you play a player better or equal to you. However, I can't afford to upkeep with the release schedule of Magic expansions - while it is nice to see an expansion to the card set every three months, the cards cost way too much, and I don't have the money to spend constantly. This is probably the main reason - I'd rather spend money on more material things besides pieces of printed cardboard, like computer hardware, game consoles, video games, controllers - and so on. In a sense, all I've done is switch from one addiction to another, but it's hardly one I didn't have before. I've just become more focused, that's all.
4. It's possibly part of a cycle. - I've given up Magic before. The last time I started was towards the end of Exodus and I stopped playing after Urza's Destiny. This time, I started just before Darksteel and stopped just after Guildpact. I may return to Magic again in the future, but regardless, I'm still essentially a tech geek - Magic is losing my interest fast. Even Eye of Judgment isn't holding my interest for very long, but it's entirely possible expansions will change that.
I still love playing Magic immensely, but the time has come to move along to something else and possibly come back later. My renewed interest in anime and video games may come to an end one day - and you'd never know when Magic will return to becoming part of my life.
Items in the photo:
1. PowerBook G4 1.5GHz
2. Right speaker.
3. Pair of IKEA scissors.
4. Yellow highlighter (not easily visible)
5. Camera.
6. Toilet paper.
7. Loads of stationery and receipts.
8. VX Revolution.
9. MX610.
10. Plastic spork/foon.
11. 1GB thumbdrive.
12. Desk lamp! Woo-hoo!
