I'm not going to deny it. While I've cut down a lot in my booster spending, I am still far from being "clean". I mean... you get it right? That box of booster @ $4 each, with a chance of opening a shockland or that foil Planeswalker to add on to the binder; or a sweet power card that automatically reaps a profit by resale. The motivation behind it? The thrill of getting the unknown and the gamble for profits.
The truth is, I know the odds of getting what we want from booster whacking. I also know how fast money flies the moment I crack open that booster. Chances of me earning is much lower than what I do by resale and/or with the Project. Yes, I know all of these; I know consequences but the problem is still in the motivation as mentioned earlier.
I used to blow out hundreds on booster pack. When I wasn't really into trading yet I basically open for the the thrill; Just opening the packs for the fun of it, hoping to get something interesting as like a card you never see before for example, or a card that goes into the casual deck that I just made a week ago... Until I struck my first goldmine. I cracked a rare that was going ten times of the booster pack I paid. Essentially, I made a profit! That feeling was unforgettable! That surge of excitement and that smile on my face! From then I learnt that the cards had value in them; There is a potential gold mine out there and is waiting for me to start hitting into it. That's when I slowly picked up trading. I didn't know what I was doing at the start; I didn't know the existence of the local forums, or the price websites until much later. So I started opening packs. It was 1 at first, then 1 became 2. It then became 10. Before I knew it, I was opening 30 to 40 packs at a go. I got box discounts still. I made friends with a guy at a Comics Connection store near my place who is willingly to help me start off my trading experience. I know the numbers would probably be insignificant to many of you who open crates or cartons at a go; mind you, I am a student with very restricted budget as my allowance expenditure is only enough to get by the month; most of my card spending is from the savings within and from my salary I got when I was working as a Temp. Staff back then when I just graduated from Polytechnic. In the more recent years, I solely rely on resale recoups and small profits to fund my booster expenditures.
As I go on, I realize the profit margin is always in the negative zone. It means I can never make a profit long term in this. I gradually moved towards to learn about card trading, while still frequently whacking boosters, especially during the release of Avacyn Restored and Return to Ravnica expansions. It slowly kind of got into an addiction during my Army days, where it got into a point when I blew 90% of the meagre allowance I had on booster packs and getting back almost none of the money. To date, I lost about $6000 in booster whacking. (This became my motivation to start trading proper and speculations. I have yet to get back the amount...)
As I start to progress in my trading journey and meeting more people, I realized that the profits from booster spending will never be profits as I will always have a gambler's mindset of "free-roll"; essentially, if I open a single rare that has the same value as a booster pack, it's a free-roll to buy another booster pack. If I open a rare more than the pack value, it means I get to open that many extra for free. Eventually, this means I'm already targeting to lose money from the start. How can I earn money if I am willingly throwing away my money into a gamble of luck? Secondly, a simple mathematical calculation shows that a booster box is more economical in value as compared to buying packs to the same value. Hence... that.
I talked to a few traders and there are a few who are really nice guys who actually gives sound advice; I remember the turning point was when one of them told me that the amount I threw into boosters will forever be more than what I get back; while I may hit the goldmine occasionally, how much longer will my luck play around before I eventually run into a bad streak, or worse, become into an addiction where I can no longer kick it. Another was much later, where I chatted with a trader to understand the deeper psychology about the thrill and urge to crack open cases (I only hit box-amounts... never by the cases). I was well-aware that if I don't stop, I would hit there eventually and in the end, I'm losing money to a hobby and causing more psychological harm than I can think of. It came to the point of my understanding that there is the urge in opening cos you know you feel the luck is with you. (Many times it's a false sense of excitement) And, there are times when you "calculated the odds in opening something good" and you are confident in it. The third reason was that these people just want the experience; they want a story to boast or share with other people they meet. The third reason baffled me the most. But, all 3 voice to the same thing in the end; Gambling.
The first and second are examples of gambling for profit. You want to earn that quick buck, so you gamble with your luck to get that quick profit. Most of the time it WILL backfire, forcing you to roll into more packs opened, increasing the loss margin. The third may not be obvious, but actually, you are gambling. Not for profit, but for the thrill of it. It just become a craving/urge or just that feeling to satisfy that adrenaline rush; often, this may come with examples one and/or two.
There is a difference between investing and gambling. At the start, I, too, was gambling. While I did not incur a loan debt, I lost my savings from my previous temp work, my allowances in the Army, and somewhere the additional bonus cash I have on hand. From last year, my secret resolution was to cut down my booster expenditure by more than 50%. I eventually made to the target as myself opening less than 20 packs at a time with an average of 2 sprees a month (even more recently, less than 10), but I'm still cracking boosters whenever I'm stressed from studies or unhappy with the events in my life. It became from an addiction, to a source of joy for me; I even once said to a friend that it's sad that a stack of cards can make me happy. (But, hey, whatever goes right?) While I did make the target in cutting my booster whacking, I am still unhappy whenever I think about the sprees I did. It felt great at the moment, but there are times when I just feel totally shit when I lost all my money in the boosters and having not getting back a single cent. Most of the times my luck isn't that great; I could probably count the number of times I struck gold, but I could not count the number of times I walked out of the card shops or stores feeling shit. Just only today (yesterday for that matter) I lost $50 in my whacking. In my head, I suddenly snapped, "I could have gotten a play-set of shocks for that! Or what about that foil walker you have been eyeing on?!" Yea, it's another counter to the shit-feeling-experiences for boosters.
I have to stop whacking boosters!!
I have to weigh out the value; Either I blow $50 on the booster pack to open something of the unknown, or the Shockland or staple cards or Foil walker. Sometimes When I weigh out the values, that's when I feel stupid in decision I make. Seriously, I don't get to U-turn all the time! If I don't stop, I will have no money to complete my other To-dos, eventually running out of money and forget about making profits; I can just get into a debt and never get out of the pool! I MUST STOP!
My ideas/ways to stop myself from opening booster packs
- Stay away from the main counter of card shops. That's where people usually buy and crack boosters. That way, I may be able to tame the urge to join in and buy.
- I know I suck at drafting. So if I am really feeling the urge to buy a pack. Sign up for a draft event! I know I won't do well in such events so I'll probably get sick of it and stop eventually
- If I can't get into a draft event, Walk to the nearest binder, pick up that Shockland or foil Planeswalker and pay that lucky fella. If my money has to go into MTG, it has to go into something I value or have a potential value to increase in price.
- If problem still persists, buy food! (not sure if it works)
The bottom-line of this reflection is this; If I don't close all leaking taps, I will never see the pool.
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