Absurdism is the only lens through which I can stand looking at my own cognitive dissonance around this game. There’s no reason to any of it, so we dance in the chaos of it all, each finding our reasons to engage with the little rectangles.
Thanks for this comment. I think the overall sentiment is absolutely correct but I wish more MtG players would confront that it's always-already been a luxury hobby that they settled on a certain financial commitment to and now feel betrayed that it's not enough.
In my small hometown in 1994, Magic was a game that was sold in its limited quantities not at game stores, but at collectible stores.”Always-already” a luxury hobby is correct, and I think this read is accurate: cost to buy-in has gone up & longtime loyal hobbyists feel discarded & left behind.
Assuming you take this article at face value, in the 90s Peter Adkinson was openly throwing orgies in the mountains because he got people to buy a 300-piece game in packs of 15 pieces at a time where maybe one of them was good if you were lucky
Not trying to be sex negative or anything just try to imagine this article being written today like "well we were a bunch of wild hedonists but we had to dial it back a bit to land that Pokemon cash"
Magic is definitely different these days and getting more and more different over time. I keep saying it'll change how I interact with the game, but I still enjoy it so I keep showing up.
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More often than not that is "self assured and assumption drive", even when it's right.
https://www.salon.com/2001/03/23/wizards/