3 ms·

One piece of Magic history that is still well-preserved is the ancient usenet groups: https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.deckmaster https://groups.google.co

by Imnimo 4y ago

One piece of Magic history that is still well-preserved is the ancient usenet groups: https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.deckmaster https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.deckmaster https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.trading-cards.magic.mi... The most recent posts are spam, but if you use the advanced search to go back to 1994/1995, it's fun to read about the way people looked at the game nearly 30 years ago. You can find people selling Black Lotuses (now worth many thousands of dollars) for a few bucks.

SeanAnderson 4y ago
Another piece of MTG history which, surprisingly, is still up and running (albeit very poorly): http://forums.magictraders.com/Ultimate.cgi http://forums.magictraders.com/Ultimate.cgi Magic Online Trading League, or MOTL, is incredibly special to me. It was the premier place to discuss and trade MTG cards on the web in the year 2000. This is the first website I created an account on using the Internet. I was 11. I chose the name "Meowmix2.0" which slowly evolved into my permanent, online username of Meo / MeoMix. Heck, my profile still exists - unmodified since it was written 22 years ago, http://forums.magictraders.com/ubbmisc.cgi?action=getbio&UserName=meowmix2.0 http://forums.magictraders.com/ubbmisc.cgi?action=getbio&Use... I remember getting banned from the forum when people realized I was under 13 and then begging my mother to fax in permission for me to hang out with the cool adults. Such good times. Bought my first MTG singles through their trading forums. Stuffed cash money in an envelope, mailed it to a random stranger, and rushed after the postal worker every day until I found my precious cardboard in the mail. :) So many memories. Thank you MTG for continuing to exist over so many years. I stopped playing for ~8 years and it's difficult to put into words how much of a warm hug it was to come back and find my beloved game still chugging along - seemingly uncorrupted by the slow pull of capitalism. All that seems to slowly be changing with Hasbro's acquisition, but I'm holding out hope. Magic has evolved a lot over the years. It'll continue to do so and I believe in it's ability to stay... magical. :)
- goosedragons 4y ago
  TBF Hasbro bought WotC in 1999. They just didn't start milking it until a few years ago when they realized most of their money came from cardboard...
gorgoiler 4y ago
Alongside newsgroups I also have fond memories of telnetting to MUDs in the 90s. Sprinkling real time social interaction with people online truly felt like magic.
- bcrosby95 4y ago
  I got my first programming job because of MUDs. I also met my wife at my first programming job. I guess I owe MUDs a lot.
jedberg 4y ago
> You can find people selling Black Lotuses (now worth many thousands of dollars) for a few bucks. Yup, that was my friends. I was smart enough to preserve my cards. Sadly I don't know where I put the box with the preserved cards...
- courgette 4y ago
  I have a box with some third and fourth edition decent card somewhere. Some first edition lands, because that’s all my 15 yo ass could pay for. Same as you m, unclear where it is.
  - asciimov 4y ago
    I'd like to imagine they, like other tcgs from that era, ended up in a landfill after a parent decided to toss those "baseball" cards telling you years later, "...but you don't like baseball anyway".
    - courgette 4y ago
      Oh that definitely what happened and I’m not even mad. That’s on me. Keep your own shit if you care enough. To come back to the discussion at hand…maybe someone who care should have back to article up? A webscrapper and a zip, then torrenting it.
- GolfPopper 4y ago
  I kept my cards neatly boxed in my basement... which flooded while I was on vacation in 2013. I came back to an undifferentiated pile of soggy paper. (In retrospect, I really should have used sealed plastic for all those unlimited-era cards...
- ipaddr 4y ago
  The cryto of the 80s and 90s. Cards.
  - badpun 4y ago
prepend 4y ago
I used to sell magic via Usenet auctions and made enough to pay my tuition and rent. It’s funny because when eBay was released I thought “why needs that? Anyone can just do their own with excel and Usenet.”

by Imnimo 4y ago

SeanAnderson 4y ago

Another piece of MTG history which, surprisingly, is still up and running (albeit very poorly): http://forums.magictraders.com/Ultimate.cgi http://forums.magictraders.com/Ultimate.cgi Magic Online Trading League, or MOTL, is incredibly special to me. It was the premier place to discuss and trade MTG cards on the web in the year 2000. This is the first website I created an account on using the Internet. I was 11. I chose the name "Meowmix2.0" which slowly evolved into my permanent, online username of Meo / MeoMix. Heck, my profile still exists - unmodified since it was written 22 years ago, http://forums.magictraders.com/ubbmisc.cgi?action=getbio&UserName=meowmix2.0 http://forums.magictraders.com/ubbmisc.cgi?action=getbio&Use... I remember getting banned from the forum when people realized I was under 13 and then begging my mother to fax in permission for me to hang out with the cool adults. Such good times. Bought my first MTG singles through their trading forums. Stuffed cash money in an envelope, mailed it to a random stranger, and rushed after the postal worker every day until I found my precious cardboard in the mail. :) So many memories. Thank you MTG for continuing to exist over so many years. I stopped playing for ~8 years and it's difficult to put into words how much of a warm hug it was to come back and find my beloved game still chugging along - seemingly uncorrupted by the slow pull of capitalism. All that seems to slowly be changing with Hasbro's acquisition, but I'm holding out hope. Magic has evolved a lot over the years. It'll continue to do so and I believe in it's ability to stay... magical. :)

goosedragons 4y ago
TBF Hasbro bought WotC in 1999. They just didn't start milking it until a few years ago when they realized most of their money came from cardboard...

gorgoiler 4y ago

Alongside newsgroups I also have fond memories of telnetting to MUDs in the 90s. Sprinkling real time social interaction with people online truly felt like magic.

bcrosby95 4y ago
I got my first programming job because of MUDs. I also met my wife at my first programming job. I guess I owe MUDs a lot.

jedberg 4y ago

> You can find people selling Black Lotuses (now worth many thousands of dollars) for a few bucks. Yup, that was my friends. I was smart enough to preserve my cards. Sadly I don't know where I put the box with the preserved cards...

courgette 4y ago
I have a box with some third and fourth edition decent card somewhere. Some first edition lands, because that’s all my 15 yo ass could pay for. Same as you m, unclear where it is.
- asciimov 4y ago
  I'd like to imagine they, like other tcgs from that era, ended up in a landfill after a parent decided to toss those "baseball" cards telling you years later, "...but you don't like baseball anyway".
  - courgette 4y ago
    Oh that definitely what happened and I’m not even mad. That’s on me. Keep your own shit if you care enough. To come back to the discussion at hand…maybe someone who care should have back to article up? A webscrapper and a zip, then torrenting it.
GolfPopper 4y ago
I kept my cards neatly boxed in my basement... which flooded while I was on vacation in 2013. I came back to an undifferentiated pile of soggy paper. (In retrospect, I really should have used sealed plastic for all those unlimited-era cards...
ipaddr 4y ago
The cryto of the 80s and 90s. Cards.
- badpun 4y ago

prepend 4y ago

I used to sell magic via Usenet auctions and made enough to pay my tuition and rent. It’s funny because when eBay was released I thought “why needs that? Anyone can just do their own with excel and Usenet.”