Lord Aldades:
The newest of opinion pieces I have been thinking about lately, this time the difference between magic the Gathering and the Miniature wargaming hobby, two things I spend much time (and TOO MUCH money) on
An Old Belgian Otaku: Magic Vs Miniatures
DAGabriel:
i had to decide some years ago and, surprise, went for minis!
Sold my whole MtG stuff away for a (huge) debit card to my FLGS.
Am still paying for most of my actual hobby stuff from it.
G.2:
I never got into MtG - Luckily, but to be honest I prefer my games to be more 3 dimensional. 
I can definately appreciate that MtG was a very expensive hobby.
@ DAGabriel. That is awesome, that you still have funds to spend your current hobby. I am forever buy-and-selling (all sorts of non gaming things) to supplement my hobby fund.
aka_mythos:
I played CCG’s before any miniature games… migrateing to CCG’s from throwing baseball cards into a show box… My first CCG was Marvel Overpower and then Decipher’s Star Trek TNG… after that I found 40k and Mtg. I really only played MtG for a short time, when my brother played, way back in Ice Age… I’d buy the occaisional pack, but most of my deck was made of left overs he didn’t use.
I think it was my FLGS’ emphasis on Pokemon that ruined CCG’s for me. The most fun I had with that game was when I invented a variant on the game with a number of cards I made up. It was called the “Pokemon Hunter.” In the normal game both players draw from their deck play a pokemon put mana into play and use it to attack with the pokemon; you had to eliminate your opponents pokemon before being able to inflict damage on the player directly. My version one player had a number of weapon cards which similar to the pokemon enabled attacks, but had no hitpoints to absorb damage. In that way it became a player and his pokemon versus the other player with body armor and an AK-47. I even had a special set gunshot counters for the other player to use to keep track of hit points. This is what happeneds when they move 40k night to the middle of the week and replace it with Pokemon.
snowblizz:
Read through it and I think you are making an incorrect comparison on the last point. The economics of resale are very much different for WH and MtG due to how you are allowed to buy the cards. MtG is built around buying and swapping cards, WH is not.
In a way one could compare it to buying a house to fix up and living in it or flipping it. On the face of it you should never live in a house and always sell it, because that way you are making money. If everyone was buying and flipping houses the system would break down. And in some places it also did so. Not just because of that mind.
At the end of the day the only one truly winning out is the guy printing the cards. Last week I was in the LGS and they were schlepping cards. The amount of cards these people had must mean they’ve spent way more money acquiring them than the cards themselves are really worth. I seriously doubt there’s any “net worth” to their holdings.
DAGabriel:
@ snowblizz: correct, i have made a big loss with selling my cards. Got perhaps a third of what i paid, and that would have bought me two to three WF-Armies.
No, far happier with my toy soldiers as the missus calls them.
aka_mythos:
Well like any type of investment, there are good investors and bad investors. One of my friends he goes to the release events for the MtG sets and by the time he leaves he has a complete or near complete set… having spent only about the cost of a box of booster packs. Thats a $400 set for about $100. Thats a pretty decent return. He knows many of the people who go to these events for the different magazine and price guide companies that are there to complete sets for archives as well.
As you point out what you intend to do with your purchase has to factor in somewhere.
snowblizz:
I’m not sure I like the use of the word investment there. Getting more for your money isn’t really an investment. I’d call it smart buying. Even though you might sell it later. Sounds more like speculation to me.
Lord Aldades:
Im not talking investments here mind you, my opinion is that if you got a box full of magic cards, and a shelf full of plastic mountain and youd quit the hobbies, you get a swifter, easier buck out of the cards.
An example I currently had on eBay is that a lot of plastic GW orcs, starting at 5 pounds, is till running for over a month of relisting, while a magic card went in a week for 35+ euros.
Its of course always up to the good stuff, our beloved dawi Zharr would fly out like gazingas, just like all those non-top deck commons would linger in shoe boxes forver.
aka_mythos:
I'm not sure I like the use of the word investment there. Getting more for your money isn't really an investment. I'd call it smart buying. Even though you might sell it later. Sounds more like speculation to me.He's good at what he does he makes a small investment which nets a larger return. Smart buying is smart investing.
snowblizz
I`m not talking investments here mind you, my opinion is that if you got a box full of magic cards, and a shelf full of plastic mountain and you`d quit the hobbies, you get a swifter, easier buck out of the cards.Thats less a case of valuation of an invested asset and more about its liquidity. With both its going to be dependent on markets. There is a stronger marker for MtG cards then for miniatures. There is also a stronger opportunity for gain with cards. Miniatures their value is largely a matter of retail price and the added value of ones painting skill. Cards have a more directly related value to established rarity (as opposed to purely market rarity) and utility.
An example I currently had on eBay is that a lot of plastic GW orcs, starting at 5 pounds, is till running for over a month of relisting, while a magic card went in a week for 35+ euros.
It`s of course always up to the good stuff, our beloved dawi Zharr would fly out like gazinga`s, just like all those non-top deck commons would linger in shoe boxes forver.
Lord Aldades
snowblizz:
Smart buying is smart investing.No it is actually not. Buying something for use is consumption. Buying something and hoping you will get more than you pay is speculation.
Any time you purchase something with the intent of eventually getting a use out of it or at a later date some sum of money in exhange for it, its an investment.
aka_mythos
Investment: thorough analysis and security. Speculation: analysis and some risk. Gambling: lack of analysis and lack of safety.I would add a measurable return.
Basic economic principal acknowledges your own happiness as a "utility" payoff on an investment.I actually doubt economics acknowledge anything as human as happiness as a payoff. Never came up in any of my classes at any rate.
I think this is the big difference between MtG and a miniature game. One is better investment from the standpoint of personal satisfaction while the other is more of an investment with liquidity. Unlike miniatures when you purchase MtG cards much of the value are cards you simply will never use and just discard.
aka_mythos
cornixt:
I always consider every penny I put into the hobby as being spent, never any thought about resale value. On the other hand, I am hesitant to buy any rare/limited models because I worry that I won’t use them properly as models (painting and/or converting as I would a regular model) because I know they are valuable. But it’s never stopped me doing to stuff that I bought when it wasn’t particularly valuable, such as all the big hat models.