u/ihatesomanythingz

Title. Do you absolutely have to go to a hell gate to become a soldier fighting for Hell? Seems like a real trek to walk from wherever to Jerusalem just to maybe get in, probably burn to a crisp.

Couldn't a couple of guys in Hell occupied territory just... join up? Grab a rifle and follow the army? Or a group of friends make their own little warband to hunt down and enslave the faithful in No Mans Land? Y'know, just for fun, or to sell?

Went to my first card show a few days ago, thought my experience might be interesting as a new collector.

1. The smell was pretty bad. Five hundred people's worth of sweat. Not sure it was just because people didn't wash, but it was an enclosed space packed full of people on a warm day. A bit of air conditioning could've went a long way.

2. The number of kids doing multi-thousand pound deals or walking around with grail cards/vintage sealed. Nothing like haggling on a £10 card next to a ten year old stacking several monyhs worth of rent money on a counter.

3. Selection was so-so. It was mostly vintage or modern, half of the stalls had a base set binder. But there was relatively little from mid-era that weren't slabs. A bit dissapointing.

4. Saw several men walking around with suitcases full of modern sealed complaining that no-one wanted their over-priced stuff. Also saw venders selling modern 3-pack blisters for £50, so I guess everyone is a scalper.

5. Gave myself a £100 budget, only spent around 70 and got a fair amount of pretty cool cards.

6. Lots of venders dragging family along to help them sell. Not an issue, but it was funny seeing a guys grandmother who didn't know what Pomemon was watching his stall while he was away.

7. A few vendors were more than happy to rip me off. Asked if they were interested in trades, then picked out cards in my pc that were double or more the value of the card I wanted to trade. I almost folded. Learn what your cards are worth before trading and don't feel pressured to accept bad offers.

Next card show close to me is in six months, hopefully either the market will crash by then, or I'll be better prepared.

Only started collecting in the past few months with my nephew. I got him into it because I thought it would be a fun, low energy hobby we could do together.

I was clearly wrong. I went down to my local Smyths, had tons of boxes and packs in stock on the website, but by the time I got down there were zero. Nada. Okay, fine, I can just try another day.

then I look on Facebook Marketplace. Some sweaty losers selling dozens of boxes of AH booster boxes or the MEGA EX boxes.

The one that really annoyed me though was the guys selling loose booster packs of 5. How is this financially worth it? making what, twenty pound?

Just getting exhausting going through this dance over and over. Wish I got him into Lorcana.