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"Well, I'm interested in your Morphlings," you say cautiously.

"Sorry, not for trade!" comes this quick reply, "I collect them"

"Right." You say - and you understand.

People inherently like to collect, to accumulate, and Magic offers a fantastic opportunity to succumb to that desire. Nice, numbered sets, rare cards, foils, special edition, promotional, DCI foil, DCI Judge foils, Guru land, etc. etc. There are a million things to collect in Magic, and it seems everyone collects something. Maybe it's every card with art by Richard Kane-Ferguson (I've seen that), maybe it's every white creature (seen that too). Maybe it's even 5,834 Islands (Yep). I once met a guy who had collected over 2,500 Shivan Dragons, including heaps of Alpha and Beta ones. He decided to wallpaper his room with them. Row afer row of Shivan Dragons, all laminated to the wall. He had pictures of it. He was very, very proud of his accomplishment. He needed 500 more to complete his ceiling. He was, clearly, insane. But there you go.

I had around 250 Hazerider Drakes at one time. I really liked that art. And a few hundred Mesa Pegasus (Pegasi?). I've seen quite a few people collect Guardian Angels. Must be the name. I know a guy in Singapore who had collected 20-25 Alpha Deathlaces. Unfortunately for him (at least in this instance), he went to a Catholic school. His folder was confiscated and promptly burned, as the Deathlace obviously exudes Satanic/Demonic overtones. Of course it does.

Until fairly recently, I have never really had the collecting bug. Oh sure, when I played constructed a bit more, I got 4 of all the playable rares or so, but that would be the extent of it. But then one of my mates here in Sydney decided to collect a foil set of 8th edition. He had a special folder for the set, and there were assigned pockets for every card and it was very neat and orderly and exciting (okay, well exciting might be too strong of a word, but we'll say mildly exciting at least) to see the newly acquired foils situating themselves in their new organised homes.

So, I thought, I really couldn't give a crap about foils. Collecting an 8th ed or a Mirrodin set seemed boring and not all that hard. So, what to do? Collect a set of Beta of course.

I've always liked Beta cards, and shunned Alpha cards - which stems from the period that Alpha was not tourney legal, and your deck was not a deck unless it had Beta power, Beta duals, etc etc. White border power cards were for the uninitiated. Or for the poor (tongue? cheek?). So, it followed that collecting a Beta set seemed the thing to do. When I played a lifetime ago back in the States, I used to have quite a reasonable amount of Beta cards. Coming to Australia saw me sell most of these so when I went about starting my set I quickly found that I had a head start with about 40 or so Beta cards that included such treasures as Holy Armor, Scryb Sprites, and Bog Wraith. But it was a start. I quickly set to task only to be equally quickly discouraged, "Beta dual lands cost HOW much now?" Crikey, or so the saying goes. The last Beta set I saw sell went for about $6,500US dollars. Roughly $10k Australian. Nifty. My plan is to get the set without actually spending any money. Nifty. I'm on track now, with 3 of the 9 power, 6 of the 10 duals, and a few of the harder to get cards like the Gauntlet of Might and such. I know SOMEONE that wroughted me on a Time Walk and also has a Word of Command that really needs to come my way. Bloody Adelaidians (Is Adelaidians a word? What does one call someone from Adelaide anyway?)

So, I'm at about 190/303 on the Beta set and counting. Finding it in Australia is not terribly easy, but it's there if you look a bit.

I knew a dealer once that collected misprints and miscut cards, and there were a couple of older guys that "collected" one of every set. I use "collected" loosely there as I don't really reckon that you can call yourself much of a collector if you buy complete sets off the shop.

So I've been buying/selling/trading up a storm on the Paradise forums, getting closer and closer to that Brass ring, lining pockets with money and folders with cards along the way.

And why stop at a Beta set. Really. I had the opportunity recently to acquire half of a reasonably sized collection that just so happened to contain most of the harder to find cards from Arabian Nights. I've always like Arabian Nights. Juzam and Library and Serendib Efreet. Come to think of it, it's probably one of my favorite expansions ever. Yeah. I love it. Hey, why not go for a set of that as well? It does seem logical. Slippery slope. Antiquities? I'm already chasing a Mishra's Workshop.. how hard could the rest of it be…

And there are angel collectors, dragon collectors, Legend and Wurm and Goblin collectors. I've seen an Atog collection that required a five-slot storage box. A Thoughtlace collection that consisted of over 100 Thoughtlaces that had been given to (not traded to) the person collecting them. I've seen a Black Lotus collection that consisted of 37 or 38 of them. Now THAT was a folder. I have seen, recently, a collection of 20 Beta Verduran Enchantresses, amidst a 180 card folder with only Beta rares. Everyone likes something.

And then of course there are the non-collectors. The people whose eyes light up at the phrase, "I need another 22 cards to finish my Planeshift set.", or "Does anyone have an 8th edition Rolling Stones for trade? It's for my set" Fantastic.

So, whether you are a gamer or a collector or both, or a gamer cum collector such as myself, there seems to be a place for everyone. And if anyone has an Arabian Nights Fishliver Oil, I still need that for my set. Seriously.

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