Where does it end?

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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 2 years ago

As I occasionally mention/brag about, I keep a singleton "commander collection" so I can build whatever I want, whenever I want. This does a great job of mitigating my EDHD and allows me to build decks around brand new commanders very quickly, all of which is great.

My policy has generally been "if a card belongs in any optimal commander deck, I want it." This means that Flying Men is in there because it's good in Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Saltskitter is in there for Ephara, God of the Polis, and a bunch of copies of Persistent Petitioners for that deck. My collection is in BCW 930 ct boxes, sorted by color and land/nonland but otherwise mixed. I've considered sorting more precisely in the past, but sorting by any objective quality - CMC, type, etc - doesn't really have much actual utility, and sorting by function tends to get muddy with multifunction cards, how many functions exist, etc. And any sorting drastically slows down the disassembly process for my decks. So they're only sorted by color.

Unfortunately, I'm coming to the end of an era: specifically, the era of 2 boxes per color. Blue and green are well past fitting into 2 boxes, and black is borderline. White and red have a little room to go, but not much, and WotC has a bad habit of printing new good cards. Two boxes each works out to roughly 1000 sleeved cards per color, not including multicolor. So I have dilemma - do I buy more boxes, and let my collection keep getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger? Or do I try to find a way to cut down?

The gut-reaction thought I had was "well, I could just cut down to the top 1000 cards of each color, and replace cards instead of adding them." But that gets a bit dicey. For one thing, there are a lot of cards that are strong but niche. Just about every tribal card is only good in its own tribal deck. All the "you may include any #" cards are taking up an increasing amount of space. I need enough regular basics, and snow basics. At a certain point, you're choosing between which archetype gets to be supported, and which don't. Also it gets way more annoying to add cards. It's one thing to pick out the playable cards in a set and acquire them, it's another to sift through my entire collection and compare all of them to the new recruits to remove an equal number.

Continually expanding isn't so bad, although the collection is a bit of a burden when it comes to relocating, something I do relatively often. But I think a bigger problem is that it keeps becoming more and more unwieldy to build decks. Monocolor isn't so bad, but making a 3c or (god-forbid) 5c can get pretty excruciating. Adding more boxes is just going to make things even worse as time goes on.

One middle-of-the-road option I've considered is to pull out the niche cards, the flying men etc, to reduce the main boxes down to a more reasonable count. Unsleeved cards take up less space, and since I'd be using them less often, I could take some time to sort them into archetype/function without needing to spend a bunch of time re-sorting them every time I disassemble a deck, aside from the handful I might use. However, this has some trickiness too - I'd probably want to have some method of identifying which cards go to which category, to make disassembly easier. With sleeves I could just use a slip of paper or something, but outside of a sticker (which could damage the card) idk how I'd manage for unsleeved cards. Ofc, I could just sleeve them, but then they'd take up a lot more space.

This is a fairly rambling post since I'm kinda just spitballing ideas at this point. Sorry about that. Has anyone else run into similar problems? And if so, how did you solve it?
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Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
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Dragoon
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Post by Dragoon » 2 years ago

I also keep a "one-of" collection of cards, but I handle it differently. I buy the cards I need for a specific deck when I build that deck. Once I'm bored with it, I dismantle it without unsleeving the cards and put them in my "commander deckbuilding boxes". That way, my boxes only contain cards I've played at least once, and I can rebuild everything I once built. I tend to build 2-3 new decks every 3-4 months so the collection grows at a reasonable pace. I also keep an inventory of every card in this collection on the deckbox website so that I know what I have at all times.

Right now, I'm storing the collection into three Holiday Gift Boxes (there's around ~2300 cards), sorted by colours and by creatures/noncreatures as I found this was the easiest way to do it. It's a bit of a problem for colourless though, as there are far more noncreatures than creatures. For the nonbasic lands, I sorted them by the colour of the template: dual lands, gold lands and mono/colourless lands. It's a bit wonky for the older lands though, as the templates for gold and colourless are pretty much the same.

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Hermes_
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Post by Hermes_ » 2 years ago

What i did before covid was to take apart all of my decks, and put the cards into a separate from my rares/trade binder so i know where all the cards, i'm likely to use for commander are at. Right now it's just one binder but I imagine that if i were to keep ordering cards for decks and then taking them apart it would grow to more binders.
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TheAmericanSpirit
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 2 years ago

I have a one-of collection that fits into a 3200 count box unsleeved, not counting the cards in my 7 decks. The way that I keep it slim is by knowing what my sacred cows are and what they are not. Everything extraneous gets traded or sold when the box gets too full. Gradually over years, this process has winnowed my collection down to only cards that I am likely to play. No reason to own or carry anything you have no intention of using.
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Post by Legend » 2 years ago

TLDR: Organize cards by set.
When I had a substantial collection, I built complete sets and pulled cards from them as needed. I used binders for the sets because I preferred the visual yet tactile experience with my collection but kept copies 2-5 (if I had them) in set boxes organized as WotC would order them, that is WUBRG, MHCL, each alphabetically. If I had a bling version of a card, such as a judge foil, that would get the binder slot even though it technically wasn't printed as part of the set.
“Comboing in Commander is like dunking on a seven foot hoop.” – Dana Roach

“Making a deck that other people want to play against – that’s Commander.” – Gavin Duggan

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Dragoon
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Post by Dragoon » 2 years ago

Legend wrote:
2 years ago
TLDR: Organize cards by set.
When I had a substantial collection, I built complete sets and pulled cards from them as needed. I used binders for the sets because I preferred the visual yet tactile experience with my collection but kept copies 2-5 (if I had them) in set boxes organized as WotC would order them, that is WUBRG, MHCL, each alphabetically. If I had a bling version of a card, such as a judge foil, that would get the binder slot even though it technically wasn't printed as part of the set.
Out of curiosity, how do you handle reprints? Especially if you don't own the original version, where do you store it? Do you simply keep an up-to-date inventory to know where to look for a specific card?

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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 2 years ago

I have precisely the same problem, only, I seem to have fewer cards. If I see a glimmer of playability in something, or I like the art, I will buy it. My stance (right now) is that you can cut down on the cards you own.

My quick acid test has been if it's a modern common you're not sure you are going to play, it can probably be recycled without any pain. Only a handful of newish commons have become valuable over the game's life (excluding things from comparatively limited print runs, like ABUR cards and early expansions; I suppose the older a card gets the more valuable it can become like Mystic Remora). The other acid test is vanilla cards; with exceptions, they're never good, even for tribal considerations. You can safely junk them.

The second is thing the nature of construction of an EDH deck. I generally 'could use' four of any good black card that could conceivably go in any deck (like Bojuka Bog or Demonic Tutor), but I probably won't need a million copies of something more niche like Mire Triton or Sanguine Bond. In fact, I can almost certainly get away with only having a singleton copy of some niche cards. It's a sliding scale, but it's clear that you won't need as many Secret Salvages as you will Mind Stones (or whatever your favourite mana rock is). I am finding that you can easily live closer to 1-2 copies of a card than 3-4.

Third is my deckbuilding habits. I need 4-of many black cards; black is my favourite colour and I play it a lot. Often, I have three, four, or even five decks containing black in circulation, but white and red? Not so much; it's rare for me to have more than one or two white decks, and very rare for me to have more than one red deck up and running. I can get away with owning 1-2 copies of cards from my less favoured colours. This becomes magnified once you start considering multicolour cards. I might play white rarely, but Boros? Probably only need one copy of any given Boros card. Same with Orzhov, or Izzet, or especially Gruul. Once you step back a bit, you might realize that you don't need 4 Llanowar Elves or another staple.

Fourth... I've tried to cut back on staples. This means that I won't need playsets of cards. I find it helps me be more creative, though, my decks are perhaps not all that great as a result.

This is a challenge going forward, though; the number of unique cards in the game is ever-increasing, and due to the nature of EDH, even functional reprints are desirable, possibly in quantity. Continual expansion doesn't bother me as much because I am more divorced from the tactile experience of looking through cards. I use scryfall a lot for arbitrary game text in arbitrary colours to find what I want to play, and then I just locate it in my collection.

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Outcryqq
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Post by Outcryqq » 2 years ago

Sounds like you have a lot of of niche cards. Maybe one way to cut down on organizing time is to at least keep niche cards together, and in their own box, so that if you want to build that deck, it's already partially built, and you don't need to sort through those cards when looking through your color boxes etc. Examples I can think of: it will immediately remove all the "a deck may have any number of this card" cards - keep your 30 Persistent Petitioners, etc all together and in a separate box; Flying Men and a decent number of other small evasive dudes probably only go in Edric, Spymaster of Trest, so that would probably take out 15-20 cards; your specific tribal dudes can all be kept together and separate from your other cards.

In this way, you're saving time in many ways: you don't have to search through these extra cards when looking for stuff, you don't have to include them if you organize more strictly, you might be able to keep the number of boxes per color to 1 still, and you save time when/if you feel like building any of these decks again.

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pokken
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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

I don't buy niche cards anymore, I just buy them when I want them.

My new buying rule is:

* Only buy cards when I have significant interest in playing them right now *

It's not like it's that big of a deal to me to have to buy a $30 Whim of Volrath if I want to play Orvar. It's a lot cheaper than keeping track of and maintaining my dwarf collection because there might be a dwarf tribal commander I want to play or whatever.

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Post by Legend » 2 years ago

Dragoon wrote:
2 years ago
Legend wrote:
2 years ago
TLDR: Organize cards by set.
When I had a substantial collection, I built complete sets and pulled cards from them as needed. I used binders for the sets because I preferred the visual yet tactile experience with my collection but kept copies 2-5 (if I had them) in set boxes organized as WotC would order them, that is WUBRG, MHCL, each alphabetically. If I had a bling version of a card, such as a judge foil, that would get the binder slot even though it technically wasn't printed as part of the set.
Out of curiosity, how do you handle reprints? Especially if you don't own the original version, where do you store it? Do you simply keep an up-to-date inventory to know where to look for a specific card?
If a card was reprinted in a set, I'd keep it in the binder or box for that set.
If it was reprinted as a promo, I'd put the promo version in the binder of the original set it was printed in.
If it was from an ongoing reprint/promo product, such as FNM or Secret Lair, I treated it as a set and put it in a binder with other cards from that product.
I hope that makes sense.
“Comboing in Commander is like dunking on a seven foot hoop.” – Dana Roach

“Making a deck that other people want to play against – that’s Commander.” – Gavin Duggan

"I want my brain to win games, not my cards." – Sheldon Menery

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Post by Sharpened » 2 years ago

As a magic card hoarder - it doesn't end.

I respect those who trim their collection. I genuinely do. And with few exceptions, I don't buy singles unless I plan on playing the card (or putting it in my cube, which I never get to play with, but still).

I used to draft heavily and get my cards that way. Even without that (as I no longer have the time to do FNM every week), I still find myself buying a box of every set.

And my trimming is done by not keeping more than 4 of a card (because while I primarily play commander, I still can't help but think in terms of constructed).

So yeah, the collection is large. And filing in boxes is certainly something. And I almost certainly will never play with a large number of cards in the boxes. But the joy of finding out that I still have a Whim of Volrath from 24ish years ago sitting in a box if I ever need it is worth it to me. And I have the luxury of having the space so I can keep my boxes of approx 46,000 cards (according to my google docs spreadsheet).

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Dragoon
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Post by Dragoon » 2 years ago

Legend wrote:
2 years ago
If a card was reprinted in a set, I'd keep it in the binder or box for that set.
If it was reprinted as a promo, I'd put the promo version in the binder of the original set it was printed in.
If it was from an ongoing reprint/promo product, such as FNM or Secret Lair, I treated it as a set and put it in a binder with other cards from that product.
I hope that makes sense.
OK, but then you end up keeping multiple copies of the same card? If you were looking for Giant Spider or Colossal Dreadmaw, you'll have to have a copy of them in each set? It seems to be more of an organisation for a collector rather than a player.

Also, since when does Whim of Volrath costs that much? I had to go and double sleeve my copy right now after seeing that price. I bought mine for 0.29 € in 2013 and it isn't even part of the Reserved List!

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Post by Legend » 2 years ago

Dragoon wrote:
2 years ago
OK, but then you end up keeping multiple copies of the same card? If you were looking for Giant Spider or Colossal Dreadmaw, you'll have to have a copy of them in each set? It seems to be more of an organisation for a collector rather than a player.
I found that collecting sets for the purpose of play was the easiest way to find cards for play without having to give it much thought because the method of organization is a built into the game. It can also be incidentally lucrative, such as when you have a dozen or so extraneous Whims of Volrath all but forgotten in the Tempest box and the next thing you know they're over $30.
“Comboing in Commander is like dunking on a seven foot hoop.” – Dana Roach

“Making a deck that other people want to play against – that’s Commander.” – Gavin Duggan

"I want my brain to win games, not my cards." – Sheldon Menery

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PrimevalCommander
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Post by PrimevalCommander » 2 years ago

Move the niche cards into an unsleeved box You only bring those out when you are building strict tribal or very niche stragegies. All of the more widely relevant cards go in the main box. Move all the most niche cards all at once should open up enough room in your color boxes for the next year or two worth of cards you purchase. Depending on how deep you go into potentially playable cards from each set. I've been VERY selective in my purchases because I just can't keep up with the amount of product being printed the last few years. it's madness.

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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 2 years ago

Wow, I didn't expect so many people to have similar issues. Thanks for all the responses!

@Dragoon - that's definitely a reasonable way to do it. Years ago (2013? Whenever I got my first real job) I made the decision that (1) old expensive cards weren't getting cheaper, (2) I got bored of most decks very quickly, (3) I really didn't like being constrained by limitations, and (4) I wanted to have the real cards instead of proxies - and so I decided the best course of action was to buy 1-of every card I'd ever want to play. While my system is a lot more sprawling, I think it has 2 big advantages. First, it means I can build a new commander immediately. If I see a spoiler I like, I can have a non-proxied deck (minus the commander itself) ready to play the same night. This also means I can iterate on lists very quickly, or build multiple decks one after the other very quickly. The second benefit I realized after I'd built the collection is that it gives me a better way, imo, to build decks. Sorting out physical cards is a lot easier, imo, than using scryfall and EDHrec. Those tools can be useful for identifying good cards for the deck of course, but in terms of sorting them out and thinking about the deck's plan, I've found moving physical cards around is simply the best way to do it, at least for me. That said, I do think I've ended up with a lot of cards that are theoretically playable, but in reality don't quite ever make the cut. So a more careful eye towards playability is probably necessary. I was maybe a bit too open-minded years ago when I was building up the collection.

@Hermes_ - ha, I can't imagine putting my whole collection in binders. They'd fill a room. Plus that seems really annoying to take in and out, but that's just me.

@TheAmericanSpirit - contexts can change, though. There are lots of cards whose playability depends entirely on a single commander - great example being Feather, the Redeemed. She put a lot of cards in my collection that are very niche - Intimidation Bolt, for example - but which I'd be sad if I didn't have the option of using if I built her (again). Hell, Sorrow's Path is obviously a terrible card in most circumstances, but it's spawned one of my favorite decks in recent memory. I'm damn glad I had a copy lying around.

@Legend - I'm not sure that solves the problem of having too many cards. I guess it could reduce the time required to search for a specific card, but that's pretty rare for me to do - usually I'm looking through all available colors to find useful cards for a given deck. I only look for individual cards if I accidentally missed something crucial. Besides eliminating the time between realizing a card is good, and finding that card, the benefit of searching through all my cards instead of constructing the decklist digitally is that I realize lots of synergies that I might not have realized without looking. Plus keeping things so finely organized sounds exhausting. And yeah, the multiple sets thing makes it even worse. Where DID I put my Lightning Bolt? :thinking:

@Sinis - We're doing slightly different things as I only keep 1 copy of everything in my collection (ignoring my permanent decks). There is a degree of ease to acquisition of recent cheap cards, but if I'm missing something I need it can move the time to build a deck from a day to a week. Plus it's much harder to get cards here in NZ. Mostly I've been reduced to digging through boxes of random uncommons at my LGS. So I usually prefer to head that off at the pass by acquiring everything when it's new.

@Outcryqq - I think you're dead on, except for the 1 box thing :P No freaking way can I get these down to 1 box each. I've started sorting through my collection and sorting into "broadly useful" (basically anything that could go into more than a couple decks, especially if those decks are different strategies), "niche useful" (anything that's strong in a particular deck, for example all the mediocre cyclers for cycling decks), "not really good enough" (cards that are fine but probably not really optimal anywhere, like Inundate), and "cards I'm never gonna play".

@pokken - I don't think I want to just get rid of those niche cards, but I do think moving them to another, more organized, less-frequently-pawed-through home is a good idea. It does annoy me when something like Arcades, the Strategist gets printed and suddenly a bunch of completely unplayable trash becomes useful (I know feather did the same thing, but feather is actually interesting so I forgive her, whereas arcades is dumb and boring), but in terms of new cards, it's usually easy for me to get them since I'll usually open them in limited at some point. And all the older niche stuff I've already gone to the trouble to acquire, minus a few niche things (my arcades collection is pretty sparse tbh...)

@Sharpened - Finally someone with a REAL collection :grin: That definitely dwarfs mine. I believe I'm getting close to 10K.

@PrimevalCommander - Yep, I think that's the direction I'm moving towards. Definitely agree about product overload. I've got so many new cards to move into their boxes from Kaldheim, Strixhaven, and C21 that kinda pushed me to this current crisis.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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Treamayne
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Post by Treamayne » 2 years ago

I am, apparently, in the minority. So here goes nothin'...

First major division is by CI (e.g. Embodiment of Spring goes in GU)
Each color box is:
SPOILER
Show
Hide
Permanents
-Basic Land
-Nonbasic Land (Alphabetical)
-Planeswalkers (By CMC, then alphabetical)
-Colored Artifacts*
-- Artifacts (by CMC, then alphabetical)
-- Equipment (by CMC, then alphabetical)
-- Vehicles (by CMC, then alphabetical)
-Creatures (Sorted by creature type, then by CMC, then alphabetical - e.g. Angels by CMC, Angel Warriors by CMC, Birds by CMC, etc.)
-Enchantments
-- Non-Aura Enchantments (by CMC, then alphabetical)
-- Auras (by CMC, then alphabetical)
Spells
- Instants (by CMC, then alphabetical)*
- Instant Sorceries (by CMC, then alphabetical - Split/Aftermath cards with both card types)*
- Sorceries (by CMC, then alphabetical)*
The Multicolored box is: (with each CI divided as above)
SPOILER
Show
Hide
WU
WUB
WUBR
WB
WBR
UB
UBR
UBRG
UR
URG
BR
BRG
BRGW
BG
BGW
RG
RGW
RGWU
GW
GWU
GWUB
GU
GUB
WUBRG
The Colorless box is:
SPOILER
Show
Hide
- Wastes
- Colorless CI Nonbasics (Alphabetical)
- Planeswalkers (by CMC, then alphabetical)
- Colorless Creatures (Sorted by creature type, then by CMC, then alphabetical)
- Colorless Enchantments (by CMC, then alphabetical)
- Colorless Instants (by CMC, then alphabetical)
- Colorless Sorceries (by CMC, then alphabetical)
- Artifacts
-- Artifacts (by CMC, then alphabetical)
-- Equipment (by CMC, then alphabetical)
-- Vehicles (by CMC, then alphabetical)
-- Artifact Creatures (Sorted by creature type, then by CMC, then alphabetical)
Binder is as per Multicolored box, with W, U, B, R, G in their appropriate spots.

*Notes:
Artifact creatures are sorted with creatures
DFCs are organized by Front face, with the checklist card immediately after it
Flip cards are organized by cast-able side
Large Dividers between major sections, sleeved advertisement cards between sub sections (creatures only sub divided by first creature type on the type line)



I will admit is sounds harrowing, and the initial sort (depending on how big the collection is when accomplished) can be quite daunting. However, once you are sorted, putting cards away is much easier than it would seem. For example - if I pick up an EDH Pre-Con and just disassemble it, it takes about 10 minutes to have the whole deck organized and put away.
- I make piles by CI - which tend to be 5-10 cards per pile for the average 3 color deck - sorting those few cards takes less than a minute per pile then you just drop them in the spot, about a minutes per pile.

I too limit Rares and Mythics to 1 each in my collection. Uncommons and commons I will keep up to 4 in the collection (only if all 4 would be in decks at the same time, such as Expedition Map and with some few exceptions, such as I think I have 7 Evolving Wilds because I kept on of each picture). If I don;t think I would ever play it (regardless of rareity) I don't keep it with the exception of Cycles I want to keep together (I might never play Righteous Confluence, but I kept it for the cycle)
Last edited by Treamayne 2 years ago, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

I do have a pretty involved sorting system but it's pretty simple, just everything by colors in penny sleeves in holiday gift boxes, alphabetized by first letter. Finding cards and adding new ones is a snap.

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Post by Hermes_ » 2 years ago

DirkGently wrote:
2 years ago
Wow, I didn't expect so many people to have similar issues. Thanks for all the responses!

@Hermes_ - ha, I can't imagine putting my whole collection in binders. They'd fill a room. Plus that seems really annoying to take in and out, but that's just me.
At first I did attempt to put all of my cards into binders, but then i got lazy and realized it wasn't worth the trouble, so now I just hold on to Rares/mythics and what commons/uncommons i use for commander on a regular basis, but unlike you I don't have that large of a collection.
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 2 years ago

DirkGently wrote:
2 years ago
Wow, I didn't expect so many people to have similar issues. Thanks for all the responses!

@TheAmericanSpirit - contexts can change, though. There are lots of cards whose playability depends entirely on a single commander - great example being Feather, the Redeemed. She put a lot of cards in my collection that are very niche - Intimidation Bolt, for example - but which I'd be sad if I didn't have the option of using if I built her (again). Hell, Sorrow's Path is obviously a terrible card in most circumstances, but it's spawned one of my favorite decks in recent memory. I'm damn glad I had a copy lying around.
I hear you, but that's the whole "sacred cow" bit. At this point, I kinda know what decks and archetypes I like playing and which I do not. I just don't need niche cards or even broad support for certain archetypes if I never play them. And if something cool gets printed that changes my mind, I buy the singles I want and replace the least worthy cards in my collection.

I dunno, somewhere along the line, I decided I only wanted like 5000 cards total anyway. I need to be able to flip through the entire collection in less than an hour because I'm too lazy to alphabetize or sort. Finding specific things would be awful with more bulk to sift through.

Edit: poor sentence structure
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Post by DirkGently » 2 years ago

@Treamayne - haha, oh god that sounds like my worst nightmare. I'd never get around to taking a deck apart if I had to have every card organized so carefully. Plus it really doesn't gain me hardly anything because of how I build decks - I pull out anywhere from a hundred up to a thousand or more cards, split them into piles by function, order them by cmc, order them by overall quality, split them into types...whatever makes sense depending on the deck. It's pretty rare that I'm going "oh, I need this specific card" and have to dig for it - when I do know a particular card I want for a deck, I'm going to be digging through the whole box in that CI anyway, so I'll find it in the process. And while I'm dubious that I'd be able to sort a whole deck in 10 minutes, sorting a big stack of 1000 deck rejects would take me over an hour and a half!

@pokken - same as above except slightly less nightmarish.

@TheAmericanSpirit - I'm really curious how many total cards I've ever included in my decks. There's definitely a lot I haven't used. I find it kinda stressful to eliminate cards when it's really close to the line, though. Going through my blue cards yesterday, I cut Uninvited Geist // Unimpeded Trespasser - which I'd initially included for Sygg, River Cutthroat but I think options have improved since it was printed - but I've got Baral's Expertise as a "close but not quite" sort of card. If I get rid of it, it'd be annoying to acquire again, but if I just shunt it into some overflow boxes I'll still have access if I change my mind, at least.

Awkwardly some of my never-gonna-plays are pretty pricey. Tbh I don't feel like trying to find a buyer for an In the Eye of Chaos just to clean out my boxes a little.

Do you not even sort by CI?
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 2 years ago

@DirkGently

So there's an experience that kinda defines my mentality about stuff in general. When I was a kid, we had this huge room in our house that was wall-to-wall full of books and shelves. It was great! I had access to read nearly anything I wanted anytime. I think the first time I read James Clavell's Shogun I was in fifth grade.

But then we moved, and we had to cull a huge amount of these wonderful books that we just couldn't justify taking to a much smaller house without dedicated space for them. It sucked, but in doing that, I realized there were two types of books; books you wanted to read and books you wanted to keep. Now I personally still have a veritable shelf of awesome books, but most of my reading material is bought secondhand for <99 cents and given away/donated after I finish (unless it's a rare exception and worth keeping). I treat my magic cards the same way; many cards I will never trade or sell, but the vast majority of the cardpool I am happy to own transiently or not at all.

And no, I do not sort at all. I once found my one copy of Grim Monolith sandwiched between about 30 portal plains and the better half of a pauper deck. In some masochistic way, I guess I enjoy the hunt.
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Post by Treamayne » 2 years ago

DirkGently wrote:
2 years ago
@Treamayne - haha, oh god that sounds like my worst nightmare. I'd never get around to taking a deck apart if I had to have every card organized so carefully. Plus it really doesn't gain me hardly anything because of how I build decks - I pull out anywhere from a hundred up to a thousand or more cards, split them into piles by function, order them by cmc, order them by overall quality, split them into types...whatever makes sense depending on the deck. It's pretty rare that I'm going "oh, I need this specific card" and have to dig for it - when I do know a particular card I want for a deck, I'm going to be digging through the whole box in that CI anyway, so I'll find it in the process. And while I'm dubious that I'd be able to sort a whole deck in 10 minutes, sorting a big stack of 1000 deck rejects would take me over an hour and a half!
I'd guess I'm not too much different, I don't so much as look for specific cards as for specific effects ("I need some more removal" - pick up the instants and set aside a top 1-3, do the same with sorceries, repeat for each color if necessary) which is why I developed the hierarchy I did - over a long period of time (back in 95 or so things were just by color but as it annoyed me to have to look through a thousand irrelevant cards when I wanted, say, a blue instant cantrip; that's when I slowly started dividing and subdividing further)
Granted it's rare that I set aside a maybe-board more than 200-250 cards when making a deck. But, at least for me, I've found that when pulling cards for the maybe-board, it's easier to focus on the possibilities if I am methodically looking at one CI and Card Type at a time. It probably helps that 90% of my decks are tribal, so a I almost never need to look at "all the creatures."
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Post by DirkGently » 2 years ago

@TheAmericanSpirit - Books take up a lot more room than cards, though - I mean, my collection is pretty absurdly large for a singleton collection, plus it's sleeved, but it still only requires 1-2 bookshelf shelves in total. I certainly see the value in reducing the commonly-used card pool to avoid looking at Flying Men every time I make a blue deck, but I don't see that much desirability in getting rid of those cards altogether. Based on my current sorting of my first box, I think I'll end up moving about 20-25% of my cards to new homes. Keeping all those niche and borderline cards isn't going to take up that much space tbh.

Also your total lack of sorting disgusts me lol

@Treamayne - I suppose it depends how you build decks - I'm very rarely looking for a single card, whether by name or function. If I'm building a deck I know will need removal, I just pull out removal while I'm digging. If I know it's going to be very removal-dense, I'll pull out a lot. If it's not, then I'll just pull out the best stuff. This while I'm also pulling out all the other stuff. It can be a little bit of a challenge to keep everything in mind sometimes - not so much in short bursts, but if I'm spending an hour or more digging through cards it gets a bit mind-numbing after a while. But it means I'm only looking through my cards once, ideally, and it also means I don't miss anything sweet that maybe didn't occur to me (again, ideally - but I often check EDHrec afterwards to see if I missed anything amazing).

1000+ cards is only when making decks with 3+ colors and kinda vague, open-ended strategies. Good example was my recent Extus deck, which wanted spells to trigger him, plus creatures worth bringing back, which in turn became a discovery as I found different sorts of creatures that seemed worthwhile - evoke, cycling, bloodrush, and other abilities that dumped them in the graveyard for value. And then there's the question of whether to run additional spell synergies, and how much, and whether to run other voltron stuff, etc etc. So that one got a little out of control. I'd say a typical mono-color list I probably pull out around 250 nonlands, and maybe 400 for 2c, 500 for 3c. Mostly depends how focused of a plan I have.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 2 years ago

@DirkGently

The book thing wasn't a 1:1 comparison, just a formative experience I had about materialism. I would just prefer to have fewer (yet more significant) things in general than amass anything in the spirit of preparation. I can currently fit literally everything I own, furniture included, into my Toyota Corolla and still have room for a passenger.

And if you think my sorting is disgusting from this distance, imagine the poor souls with whom I trade. My binder is a such manic chromatic nightmare that flipping the pages too fast could probably induce a seizure.
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Post by DirkGently » 2 years ago

I'm pretty light too, mostly because moving to NZ caused my to get rid of 100% of my remaining furniture. Doubt it'd fit into a corolla (let alone my current ride of choice, my new escooter), but probably on the order of 10 boxes or so. Hellll of a lot less than when I was living in the US. Two international moves really makes you consider your priorities.

Tbh I don't mind people having unsorted trade binders. It's not like I'm looking for specific colors anyway.

Looking through 5000 UBRG cards while making a mono-white deck is unforgiveable though :dizzy:
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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