this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2024
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I think the big element you are missing is local shops and online resources. I started playing magic the gathering at the start of last year and one of the things I bought at the start was a box of 1000 cards of all varieties from eBay. It cost me $25 and was an excellent jumping off point to get started with creating decks. Especially when you compare it to the official blind packs that you are referencing that give you 15 cards for $8.
On a similar note there are dedicated platforms for buying specific cards online like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom, and eBay of course. Your purchases aren't always blind even from MTG itself. When you buy a preconstructed deck it'll be a specific list of cards that are included in that.
There are also platforms specifically dedicated to building decks which admittedly takes some practice to be good at but is part of the fun. I personally use a free platform called Archidekt but there are others like Moxfield and Manabox. These platforms help with deck creation by providing suggestions and measuring cost as well as having an easy view of the overall cards chosen. Archidekt even allows you to import your collection of cards info it so you can specifically build decks only with the cards you already have. Using these websites I've very quickly managed to build competitive decks to play with.
Lastly the greatest element that has added significant value to Magic as a hobby has been comic book shops. These shops very often are more like nerd superstores. The ones local to me have plenty of comics and a huge catalog of cards and related accessories. You can buy the official Magic card packs but I prefer to go through their cataloged collection of loose individual cards. My local store has literally thousands of cards that are sold individually. You can go through the organized boxes for the cards you are interested in and at the end you pay for the exact cards you want. Very often the pricing for such cards is in the $0.01-$0.25 range unless it's a card that is very coveted in play. Yes there are cards in the hundred or even thousand dollar range but those generally are of the vintage variety and are that price because of their age not their usefulness in game. These comic shops also serve as hubs for local tournaments and play which makes them great places to meet new people.
After about a year of playing I've probably spent about $250 on cards but I now have a collection of over 4000 cards that Archidekt values at significantly more than what I've paid. But that's not the point of course. For my $250 I've built roughly 10 individual decks that I've played hundreds of games with. Long story short TCG doesn't have to be expensive to be fun.
I realize that is cheap as hell, but I still personally have a problem with a game I have to keep paying for once I've already bought it if I want to remain competitive on principle.
The rest of what you said makes sense to me though.
You might enjoy games like star realms instead: it's a self contained game (like regular board games) so you buy the game once and it comes with all the cards for two players to play and anyone who buys the game gets the same set of cards. Also, instead of having to build a deck before playing, all players start the game with the same cards and build their deck throughout the game.
Yes! That is exactly what I was talking about with Illuminati! It's not the card game concept I have a problem with, it's the "keep buying more" part. So yes, I probably would enjoy Star Realms. I'll look into it. Thanks.
There are a few games like this that are non-collectible (in other words, no random packs of cards). It's pretty rare, though, and most of them are out of print. I recommend Arkham Horror: The Card Game and Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, especially since you like RPGs. They're very similar to RPGs, but they're played with cards, and you're playing against an encounter deck instead of a game master.
I understand what you're saying, but Illuminati didn't have a GM or a plot. The gameplay works fine as a TCG because of the way it's structured. And from what I've seen of MTG, the way it's structured is fine too. Honestly, card gameplay is fine with me, as are both competitive and co-op games. It's literally just the "you have to keep buying" thing. It's the same reason I hate things like in-game purchases. I like even playing fields.