[AndrewStephens]

Great essay! I have never played WH40k but have been quite into Magic the Gathering at times.

Before I started playing I asked a friend what was to stop me just printing or photocopying cards (even in the 90s this would have been possible)

I understood how silly that question was when I felt the pleasure of actually owning a high quality product. Sure, I could spend the time to make my own cards but playing the game is only part of the fun.

Warhammer and MtG get mocked for being expensive but in reality they are comparable to cars, sports, fashion, and all the other things humans spend their disposable income on.

[wincy]

It’s a good question though! I got into Lorcana in 2024 and spent way too much money. I became curious about the $3 “reproductions” for $50 cards on AliExpress and ordered a few, while having matching copies I had pulled myself from packs, so I knew mine were authentic.

I was shocked that even under a jeweler’s loupe, I could tell no difference. Even the microscopic ink patterns were identical, except for the very rare editions of cards that use a special holographic print (called “Enchanted” cards, which are fancier alt art prints of cards, but those have a regular equivalent for gameplay purposes in all cases). It was all just worthless paper at the point.

This “broke the spell” for me, so to speak, and I quit playing. Soon after, I’m guessing everyone else realized this too, or, more likely, were buying the same cards at full price without realizing their provenance, and card prices tanked substantially. I also quit playing because it took up a lot of time and I rediscovered why I stopped playing Magic competitively. I’m an extremely sore loser and when I get into a hobby I play to win, to the point of obsession.

[arvinsim]

I thought EDH would satisfy my casual interest in MTG. But it ended up being worse than competitive play because of politics, vague deck building restrictions for balance(brackets) and difficult to organize people to play.

I settled into boardgames(especially solo boardgames) last year to satisfy that itch.

[wincy]

EDH was so bizarre to someone who played Magic in 2003 or so, like “wait I need to care about my opponents feelings and if they’re having a good time? Why would I do that?”

I also went away from competitive scenes and found D&D suits me much better.

[arvinsim]

I see at least 2 reasons why we don't see proxy play in MTG.

One is the strong dependence on your peers for approval. If your group is against proxies, then you are screwed.

Second is that there are now more ways to play against each other online for free. This approach is much more convenient compared to creating proxies IRL and allows you to play with other people outside your peer group.

[aleph_minus_one]

> Warhammer and MtG get mocked for being expensive but in reality they are comparable to cars, sports, fashion, and all the other things humans spend their disposable income on.

I guess there really is some kind of "hacker-type" personality who does spend a lot on some things, but these things are typically "not very proprietary", i.e. not things where the producing company enforced the copyright and trademarks heavily, and "highly modifiable". So I guess to such people the question "what was to stop me just printing or photocopying cards" is not absurd, but to fans of WH4k or MtG it is: because of their very different product tastes.

[throw-12-16]

My playgroup proxies everything.

We all have large magic collections but Wizards has shown repeatedly that they have no intention of making the game more accessible.

I have been playing magic continuously for 30 years and have not spent a dime on it since 2019.