Asking people how much they spend on trading cards | Magic: the Gathering

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Asking Singaporeans how much they spend on trading cards! Specifically, on the Magic: the Gathering (MTG) collectible trading cards. Why do people spend so much money on trading cards? What makes it worth it to buy these cards? I ask all these questions and more to random customers at the Games Haven shop in Paya Lebar, Singapore.
It also coincides with the release of a brand new Magic: the Gathering set, titled Streets: of New Capenna. Each set release introduces over a hundred new cards to the collectible trading card game and happens multiple times throughout the year.
Connect:
Esmond on Twitter: / ezzyhey
Games Haven Singapore webstore: www.gameshaven...
Games Haven Facebook: / gameshavensg
Games Haven Instagram: @Games_Haven_SG

[@QMTG]

How much did YOU spend...? Check out our Commander gameplay series --> kzbin.info/aero/PLwj0GJNHtjmOVMgz3PrOVKjNqRZ4EmWbo

[@alvinwai86]

A lot 🤣

[@QMTG]

Nice

[@israelgonzalez840]

Way too much like anywhere from like 300usd to like upwards of like 500 to 600. I need to not do that so much lol.

[@Trist_Playz]

usually on the high end for like big sets 3 to 4k USD but I do not buy the standard sets only singles if I really need them so on average my monthly is 3 to 400$ USD

[@thecrookedskull]

This video definitely made me feel better about my MtG spending...

[@QMTG]

That’s the point 🙃

[@jamesthefront2246]

Right!!! I totally agree. I buy the odd single here and there for EDH. But damn! I can’t imagine spending so much on boxes or monthly being over 1k??

[@Rustybits]

I never felt so poor lol

[@andrewolihan2427]

@@Rustybits I just take the extra money I make after my bills and put that towards magic. I make a new commander deck every few months around 800-900. This made me feel better about my bad spending habits

[@Hyper88]

The professor approves of the "buy singles" people in this video

[@QMTG]

Haha yeah I’m sure he does

[@Alessandro-mg9oh]

Professor certified

[@nut_bust3r]

Very cool, I wish my local shops had this amount of liveliness and enthusiasm.

[@QMTG]

It's getting way more lively now that we can start playing in person again!

[@cmbodayle]

Love the one player who is like “I spent $80, and don’t plan to spend any more.” That dude got his four Ledger Shredders and was like “and I’m done!” Definitely the modern player of the group.

[@theblerd1889]

Just started and I got four and don’t know what to do with them😩

[@chriscunningham6401]

@@theblerd1889 I only pulled one and sold it back to the store. If I had more than that I might keep one to see if it goes up after rotation since it looks useful for Modern and maybe Legacy might be good for it too.

[@MFewwy]

"Hopefully, my wife doesn't see this" :D I cracked so hard on this part :D

[@QMTG]

One of the reasons many other potential interviewees turned me down lol

[@SteakOSaurier]

I just love occasionally seeing Matt in the background, he's such a good guy😊

[@QMTG]

Yeah lol, constantly busy doing good things 😇

[@Reddgameplus]

@@QMTG then why do you punish him Esmond? 😝

[@papaflowers5726]

EVERYONE SEES YOU LIAN YING, also 1 that is a beautiful store 2 everyone is so nice 3 thank you for making the best mtg content around

[@papaflowers5726]

Also my man Lian Ying spending like the least still saying it's not worth it is incredible

[@Jeremy-pf3bb]

These people feel good about their purchases I think. Doesn’t look like they are terribly addicted or embarrassed.

[@michaelfellner9822]

Well as long as you dont prioritize this over your real life , probably family etc , there is nothing wrong with spending money on things you enjoy such as hobbys. different people different interests. one spends it on another tcg, others spend it on cars, others just go out and eat something fancy .. despite that its a tcg so it bringes people together to have fun with its also an investment tho and i bet the people in this video who spent a lot of money also deal with the cards .. and if youre good at it you can actually make decent money.

[@mrnubbones8626]

@@michaelfellner9822 tell that to Yugioh players

[@michaelfellner9822]

@@mrnubbones8626 what specifically? i used to play ygo competitivly.

[@mrnubbones8626]

@@michaelfellner9822 oh sorry I should've specified, I was referring to the possibility of making money from Yugioh. I also used to play competitively

[@michaelfellner9822]

@@mrnubbones8626 dw and oh yea definetly. back when i played i wasnt really much of a trader or had the biggest collection and was dealing with cards no, just reading trends, keeping an eye out on newer cards, what can be good / go up in value etc can rack up quite some money. ygo helped my financing like everything i bought back in these days like new consoles, clothes or well afford stuff needed for ygo.

[@trickfoot7221]

One day when I can travel freely from China, I would love to do a trip and visit the store there, the vibe seems so nice in-store.

[@couttido]

That's not china

[@trickfoot7221]

@@couttido I said travel freely from China, I live in China

[@frosty980]

New capenna was the least I’ve spent on a set in a while, about $50. That’s only because I had enough store credit to get a set booster box and cracked most of the singles I wanted from it

[@QMTG]

That’s fantastic!

[@piccolotamayo4132]

Awesome video! Big fan from the Philippines. Looking forward to visiting your store in the near future! :)

[@QMTG]

Awesome! Thank you! Sure thing :)

[@ThunderJ16]

This is so cool! I love getting to see your shop more and how different it is from the ones I've seen in the states! :D

[@QMTG]

Yeah I thought it’d be interesting to show the shop :)

[@LaustinSpayce]

I think if I ever get in trouble at home about how much I spend on tcgs I can show them this video hahaha

[@QMTG]

That’s the point :)

[@ylein6508]

Omg, after seeing this I don’t feel too bad about spending money on kickstarter deluxe board games

[@emthreadgold]

That microphone is wild. I'm used to seeing the thin little wand like on Price is Right, not a transformer that happens to pick up sound.

[@QMTG]

Hahahaha yes lol whatever works :) It's a fantastic piece of equipment honestly

[@EdoardoMies]

So, I live in Singapore and as Brazilian what you always see on FNM is very budget focus decks. Last week, I went to my first night here playing MTG, guys sits next to be. - hey, can I play w/ you guys? I've been playing for one month. - sure go ahead! Opens a deck box with all major stables on EDH I've ever seen on my life, all dual lands, fetches, 0 mana spells, dockside, etc. All decks were sooo expensive, cards I've never seen in person. So yeah, people here really put some money on MTG.

[@QMTG]

Aw, not everyone here is like that though!

[@jasonwoo1823]

This kind of video will kill a lot of the married men featured inside, cmon man lol

[@israelgonzalez840]

I loved this video. More interactive stuff in store would be dope to see!

[@QMTG]

Sure thing!

[@DMThirteen]

Yang Ling is my guy. What a sensible man.

[@lunasArtJourney]

4:17 "depends on how much money I have at the time" why is this me tho lol

[@TDEricksonGames]

Dropping by for that thumbs up! awesome vid - love the participants..

[@QMTG]

Hahahha thanks man!

[@eclipsemeadow3496]

Interesting video. Should also do one for F&B and PTCG, considering they, along with MtG, are like three huge monetary consuming TCGs, as far as i know and can see.

[@QMTG]

Lol yeah maybe! Most of the people here and into MTG though

[@jamesharless6103]

I could see this kind of video blowing up.

[@QMTG]

I hope it does

[@kurtsloop2462]

I spent over a thousand dollars on Alpha and Beta when they first came out. Afterwards, I had buyers regret because that was a ton of money back then but I loved the game. No regrets now

[@iAMtunaFISH]

I'm old player and I'm pretty satisfied with my collection. At this point, I mostly buy premium edh staples. There's no point for me to buy anything outside of that.

[@QMTG]

Good plan!

[@scarfhat1]

My favourite part of the video is trying to spot Matt in the background. Also love that you also interviewed Liang Ying

[@lisaparker271]

WAH some of these guys just loving gambling! 3-5k on booster boxes?! Crazy! I think I spent like $700 on that set for singles. mainly lands and the gilded foil legendary creatures because they were so nice.

[@Brushedhw]

nice video! surprised to see quite a few big spenders but as long as they can afford it and find fun, why not?

[@jeffreylong1478]

That dude was sweating like he was being interrogated for a crime haha, poor guy lol 😆

[@johnnamkeh1290]

Video is a good demonstration on why Double Masters is a good business model for WotC :)

[@QMTG]

Indeed

[@cagin5]

For Capenna, around €350 singles + €200 Cmdr set. Used to buy 3-4 boxes on each release but the fumes of the ink/cards make my head spin lately and I was lagging 2-3 releases behind for ordering and managing into my storage boxes so I stopped doing that. Less distress now but I do miss the feel of cracking packs.

[@QMTG]

Yeah the card sorting and storing really becomes a headache after a while

[@FlowLikeWater429]

I've been a mandarin student for a few years now (I live in Denmark) and my friends tell me I should visit China, but I didnt really have a reason. It would be fun to travel to Singapore just to play some Magic, and maybe speak a bit mandarin, I hear the Singaporeans speak mandarin extremely well. 😅😅😅

[@nexusak1829]

Interesting video, thanks for making this - great job.

[@QMTG]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@cagin5]

This is a video I had been eager to see! Games Haven interactions \o/

[@tyler7356]

Great video! Would love to see more of these.

[@QMTG]

Thanks! Will do!

[@fabresourcetree2074]

I like the flesh and blood in the background

[@QMTG]

Nice.

[@lovetownsend]

In my entire lifetime... if added cards bought for me for xmas and birthdays as a kid... probably 3000$ spent on cards. I JUST beat my record for most money spent on a single card... before it was 30$ for Dark Paladin, just spent 60$ on an DBZ ultimate

[@QMTG]

Noice

[@busoythegreatfart9674]

Dropping by for that thumbs up! Nice video!

[@QMTG]

Thanks for dropping by!

[@cagin5]

I bet I'm not the only one who'd wish WotC made gilded foil version for Giada too

[@Kuya1991]

You should start asking all these people what they mainly play. Standard, EDH, Modern etc. Take the guy at 7:42 for example. I totally understand what he's talking about because I only play EDH and spend about the same amount.

[@QMTG]

Good idea for the next video :)

[@tributarioalunos182]

How I envy those people that were Interviewed!!! They had the oportunity to declare attack against Esmond!!!! New merchandising Idea: a Tshirt that says "I declare attack at Esmond"!!!

[@QMTG]

Lol but WHYYYY

[@tributarioalunos182]

@@QMTG becouse it's fun, specially If your Commander is Etali

[@mickeyb-n5748]

love how the person on the video about how much they spent literally tried to dodge the single question on the interview.

[@okokboomer5776]

For those who don’t play magic most players don’t have 3 to 5 thousand dollars to spend personal I only spend a couple hundred in 2 to 3 sets and then I just buy single cards

[@QMTG]

Yeah I’d say that’s pretty normal

[@tonycheezal5650]

I really love your channel

[@QMTG]

My channel loves you too

[@MitchieDBBC]

Dang dog. The most I've bought is a box and that's a hundred or so.

[@thetasworld]

The excel single card buyer is my kind of guy

[@JersonPo]

Shoutouts to Jp for the hustle! Haha!

[@QMTG]

Yeah lol!

[@erikl5160]

New to collecting paper Magic. For set, $200+ for Kamigawa Neon Dynasty (set booster box, commander decks, bundle). For singles, $600+ for Go-Shintai commander deck.

[@lucasunlocked8004]

Mad props to the dude who uses the excel spreadsheet

[@lrgambe]

Sending love from Top Deck, Philippines

[@QMTG]

Sweet, thanks!!!

[@godsend76]

i don't really play the game i like the art work

[@QMTG]

Nice

[@ClarenceSF4]

Love this Series haha

[@QMTG]

Awesome!

[@theknightsgallery24]

Great questions!

[@QMTG]

Thanks!

[@Follow_ussg]

Omg! Dint know that cards cost that much!!

[@QMTG]

Hahahahaha

[@vtran180]

Is that in USD?

[@QMTG]

Nope, Singapore dollars

[@aznnissanskyline]

New Capenna was meh to me. Bought 1 set box for fun and bought the 4 singles I wanted. Mainly EDH player. Baldur's Gate is lackluster to me too so will buy the 5 singles I want. Double Masters 2022 will be a different story. Forgot to answer the main question. I probably spent about 500 on Neon Dynasty. That set is fire.

[@QMTG]

Sounds like a good plan

[@jasnipes]

Yess more vids like these please

[@it_is_ni]

I started playing MtG as a kid in 93/94. I stopped and picked it up a couple times throughout my life. I really like the game but dislike the commercial side of it. In my whole life I maybe spent €500 on it.

[@QMTG]

Wow. Interesting story!

[@AlkariiLive]

Where is this store based? Brilliant Video!

[@AlkariiLive]

*missed the Singapore comment in the vid

[@IvanMTG1]

Great idea for a video!

[@QMTG]

Glad you think so!

[@BubbleteaS]

multiple by 3 for the more accurate number

[@finfangfo0m]

Special guest appearance by Matt!!

[@QMTG]

Of course!

[@zhijie5390]

I hear someone's SSRB " POI" at 4:41

[@GenyaArikado]

I have spent 9k on magic if you count everything...but that is in almost a 10 years of time and i have got 115 edh decks and 50+ modern decks etc. I have also got thousands and thousands of cards for free

[@QMTG]

That's crazy but awesome for you!

[@BohRamon]

That was such a funny video :D

[@QMTG]

Lol thanks 😊

[@DeanLK12]

Ill be honest, buying boxes and cracking packs is a ton of fun. Every time i've done it though, I always wish I wouldve just bought singles. Thats the route i've taken for years and I think a lot of these people should do that haha. The 30k for MH2 just about blew my mind. BUT, to each their own, if you are happy then do your thing!

[@QMTG]

That's right!

[@hansolo8080]

There's one thing that really interests me: a lot of times you guys put "la" at the end of words. Is that some kind of native slang or are there a lot of words that end with that? Really curious, never heard that before.

[@QMTG]

Yeah, it's colloquially known as "Singlish", which is unique to Singapore. It really doesn't mean anything lol.

[@hansolo8080]

@@QMTG Thank you very much for the answer. I'm hooked to your edh gameplays and humor since I watched my first video and Matthew put "MONAK" on his placeholder card!

[@oftenbetterthanone]

What country was this filmed in? I noticed some people ending their sentences with "la" and the only other place I've seen that before is Karl Marx's channel in India. Is this common across Asian countries?

[@MrSageCurtis]

When I was playing for a few years, all I bought was a single fat pack per set. >___>

[@QMTG]

Fat packs are great!

[@DaniCha]

I spend around $1000 for each set for a tcg I’m interested in playing. I’m grateful I have the financial stability to do this and avoid buying singles. Lol it’s no fun buying singles, am I right!?

[@QMTG]

Yeah! It's all about cracking packs 😆

[@ryanlarson9239]

Dood. I watched this literally months ago when it came out. Had no idea I’d be playing here a couple months later. Haha. Also I spent about 35 dollars on the new set via prerelease.

[@TH-dg2mm]

Magic The Gathering, the card game where the strongest card is your credit card.

[@QMTG]

Lol. Perhaps.

[@fargnbastage]

I spent about 1k on New Cappenna. Case of Set Boosters and a couple Collector Booster boxes. Kinda regret it, but I'm keeping them sealed.

[@YourWorstTM50]

Awesome video.

[@QMTG]

Thanks. Awesome comment 👍

[@carloe1962]

Is the video in US dollars? Or SGD?

[@QMTG]

SGD

[@carloe1962]

Thank you! Watching from outside Singapore. :-) Maybe good to specify next time for your global audience :-)

[@QMTG]

Yeah definitely:)

[@killakev9589]

is this SGD or USD?

[@QMTG]

SGD

[@NUFAN065]

Sending love from TD!!

[@QMTG]

Sup!!!

[@calebtan1042]

U guys got a community over there that plays edh been planning to find a new group to hang with

[@wilsongoh2088]

Pretty sure there's quite a number of players in the area that plays edh

[@calebtan1042]

@@wilsongoh2088 ye ofc but u know Idw to go there and have no one to play with u know. Like Abit wasted trip

[@wilsongoh2088]

@@calebtan1042 ah that's easy You can join their respective lgs chatgroups to prompt for games when you have time

[@calebtan1042]

@@wilsongoh2088 oh really how do I join

[@iSoaring]

what mic is that?

[@imanujakku]

200-650 a set. CML2 will probably be 1k though. Unless double masters has allied fetchlands i cant see it being worth the gamble. Mana crypt and force of will were already in double masters 1so that leaves what? Imperial seal? Hopefully nothing until warhammer commander lol…this year has been expensive already.

[@MTGJosh]

OK now I don't feel so bad. 😅 May I ask what the conversion rate is to £ pounds?

[@plain6677]

It’s always around 0.55-0.60£ for 1S. But the average salary in Singapore is way higher than UK (£3.500 compare to £2.000 in UK), except London of course.

[@MTGJosh]

@@plain6677 oh wow thank you! Hope you have a great day 👍🏻😊

[@joshuah3691]

I like videos like this

[@QMTG]

Ok

[@Freddy-D]

I always bought a Bundle of the New Sets and maybe one or more Commander Precons, and then here are People spending 2k-50k on One Set 😂😂WTF

[@QMTG]

Bundles are great :)

[@matteoceccherini7810]

No sense why they dont buy simply 4x of each card singles?

[@yarnf]

The guys who bought 10k+ are buying sealed boxes as an investment. Its not for the individual cards (4x the set would obviously be far less than 50k). Sealed magic product (and other tcgs as well) tend to appreciate fairly well and reliably.

[@10hitscombo]

Is this at singapore? Where is it at?

[@QMTG]

Yes, Paya Lebar!

[@stae1234]

If MtG continues to thrive I think they'll make there money back and then some

[@QMTG]

Yeah that's probably what they think too!

[@magicalmadness]

Well seeing as how I have mtg as part of my monthly budget and allocate more towards mtg than some bills.

[@willhelm94]

Whale spotting

[@bigmanwonderland2296]

I only bought extended art foil of Professional Face-Breaker from New Capenna for my Prosper. It was only $15.

[@alascala1544]

So cool seeing Flesh and Blood in the background. I’m like a proud dad 🥺

[@d23durian52]

Part of me wants to show my wife this video to justify the $200-$300 I spend each month, but the other part of me says it's probably not a good idea to tell her about the $200-$300 anyway...

[@QMTG]

Lol do it

[@d23durian52]

@@QMTG she rolled her eyes. I think I'm safe.

[@earldrazi2879]

This is why I buy single cards but proxies no way am I spending 300 to 50 k on one card and since I play commander nobody cares what you use

[@QMTG]

Fair enough

[@robinlehner8269]

Is this actually your store? Nice video!

[@skrufy11]

i probably spend like 4500 on mh2, double masters like 3k, comander legends 3k. i didnt buy one booster pack for streets of capenna.... lol

[@QMTG]

Nice hahaha

[@chriscunningham6401]

Wow, I thought I spent a lot on cards.

[@MNman87]

Ohhhhh this is why MTG is so god damn expensive!

[@QMTG]

Or is it...?

[@MNman87]

@@QMTG people willing to pay this much.

[@tempestandacomputer6951]

My boy Ryan seems to know the value of money as it relates to cardboard lol

[@lordtyrus1]

I buy expensive reserved list here and there and feel a little naughty about it, but 3k a set that won't hold its value is nuts

[@peterwalzer8163]

The guys which spending more than 1k are flipping the cards and making money with the side hustle.

[@QMTG]

That’s right

[@sovereign4107]

@@peterwalzer8163 unless they bought stacks of ledger shredders they aren't making any money.

[@vinnyangelo6634]

This was a fun video to watch and makes me feel less guilty for spending so much money on magic cards 🤣 even tho I mostly just buy singles now because of how much product they're throwing at us

[@QMTG]

Hahahaha that’s great lol. Yeah there’s like new sets coming out every month now 💸💸💸