Comments on: The Warmth of a Burning Bridge

By: Peter Martin

Peter Martin — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 23:06:26 +0000

Thanks for the feedback, guys – it was definitely a little bit of a surreal experience. I was fortunate that I was able to extract some good value from my collection when I let it go, and hopefully some new streaming projects will be the beneficiary of that extracted value. Writing about it helped, too. Confession is good for the soul, as they say. I still have these little twinges of “did I really do that?” but I’m comfortable with the decision and think it was the right one.

And Ian, I’m glad you found us, and welcome! Always glad to hear we’ve reached someone new.

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 09:17:34 +0000

I had a very similar experience the day I decided to give up CCGs altogether. Like yourself, I started with MTG but at 3rd Edition after being introduced to game by a friend when I first started working. I loved CCG mechanics and strategic elements so started playing many others L5R, LOTR, Star Wars, Star Trek, Shadowfist, Dr Who and too many more to name – slowly, I accumated many many boxes of cards and decks. They became precious even though I seldom played after the kids arrived. I was hoarding and it took me some time to realise it. Then about 5 years ago, I made up my mind to get rid of them. Initially it felt like a great loss on all the investment(time and money)I had made over so many years collecting, sorting, building decks and playing; later it felt like a heavy weight was lifted. I understand better now about not getting “tied to things of this world”.

BTW, I only very recently came across you awesome blog and podcast. Oddly enough, I was googling Chris Ode (been a fan and supporter of Zombie Orpheus for sometime now) and come across the podcast you did with him. Enjoyed the podcast thoroughly so will be slowly making my way through your entire backlog. Keep up the great work!

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 04 Jul 2018 16:25:19 +0000

I had something of the same experience several years ago. I really enjoyed the game and the camaraderie among the players I learned from in college. Once we all moved on, though, the only place to play was in the competitive Friday Night Magic events at the local hobby store. Those people just weren’t fun to play with, and they had a quite palpable contempt for casuals like me who just wanted to test wacky engines and peculiar interactions. Yes, I’m playing Takklemaggot and Seizures; get over it.

I fortunately realized how little joy I was getting from the game and how many resources it was taking to stay involved, and I put it away. Some time later, I sold my collection to tide me over between jobs—I actually lived off that sale for about two months. I did get back in later when a friend of mine started playing, and we roped in a couple others who were disinterested but willing to play with our cards. Since I moved to Los Angeles, though, I haven’t played at all. I’d play again if there were a group of casuals interested in just having fun, but it’s definitely not worth it to me to get involved with anyone who takes it seriously enough to drop more than a couple bucks on a single.