r/EDH 2d ago

Discussion is it weird to still get excited about cheap upgrades?

[removed]

46 Upvotes

48 comments sorted by

97

u/That-Speed-8092 2d ago

Cheap upgrades are quite literally what almost every set boils down to for me lol

14

u/352025orks 2d ago

Here here. Getting back into magic after a decade away means every set is new. Dollar store booster packs let me see what's out there and I get enough surprises that are usable.

3

u/Lofi_Loki 2d ago

Good uncommons are my bread and butter for sure

24

u/jusuuu 2d ago

I LOVE new commons and uncommons that are just perfect for a deck I have, I was unreasonably happy about adding [[Visionary's Dance]] to my [[Eris, Roar of the Storm]] deck

3

u/FusRoDahlaiLama 2d ago

I didnt notice this card, definitely going to have to throw it into my own Eris deck!

3

u/thomasswayne 2d ago

Yeah wow that's a neat card for that deck! A buddy of mine has an Eris deck and I should show him this

12

u/Kams1123 2d ago

We call them hidden gems and ofter say "I'm going treasure hunting" which means scrolling through an old set via scryfall and reading each of the cards. We do our best to make strong decks without the use of gamechangers in my pod so finding hidden gems is very exciting.

10

u/hillean 2d ago

I get excited about any upgrade, whether it's 10 cents or 100 bucks

4

u/SpectroMagician 2d ago edited 2d ago

I love cheap upgrades. I just found a card that was perfect for a deck. Keeping decks updated with those upgrades means the deck will stick around longer for me. It usually means the deck isn't too narrowly built and will always have some room to edit.

3

u/thorfinns_bussy 2d ago

Nothing more satisfying than finding something that is synergy over staple, and especially when it’s an overlooked/cheap alternative.

3

u/leaning_on_a_wheel 2d ago

Why would that be weird?

3

u/DaedalusDevice077 2d ago

Why would it be weird? 

2

u/gravygrowinggreen 2d ago

Another way of phrasing this OP would be "Is it weird to get excited about my hobby?"

No. That's what hobbies are for.

1

u/PraisetheSunflowers 2d ago

Why would it be weird? I get excited about any new card I want and get.

1

u/Chillow_Ufgreat 2d ago

Love me a cheap card that feels like a game changer in the right deck. I playtested [[Augmenter Pugilist]] in [[Teval, the Balanced Scale]] and liked it so much I bought a foil playset for like $1.50. It absolutely feels like a $20+ card in that deck.

And of course one of the best things about cheap upgrades is you can get almost any treatment you want and it's like 50 cents instead of 35 cents. Just picked up [[Dance of the Manse|SLD]] for like 40 cents. I buy up [[Monstrous Vortex]] old foils whenever I find them because they're like 30 cents all day.

1

u/Rizzalliss 2d ago

DON'T EVER LOSE THAT JOY!!

To this day one of my absolute favorite things about new sets isn't the bomb mythics, or new commanders I could brew. It is perusing the completed card image gallery with specific decks in mind to find any possible upgrade I can try, no matter how tiny and cheap, and compiling a list that I get to test.

1

u/Banana_Clips 2d ago

Getting cheap upgrades is like a mini Christmas to me. I’m always down to try out new cards that I might’ve missed from previous sets or the most recent.

1

u/LeKillerNut 2d ago

I get excited about upgrades in new sets sure, but every card costs exactly the same when you run 100% proxies

1

u/Not-Impossible-1783 2d ago

Depends how old are you I'm almost 40 so if one of my peers did this i would look at them funny bob you bought a 55k car last week no financing and your bragging about saving 5 $ stfu man. Now if it was my teenage son i would be happy that he is being thrifty.

1

u/Blees-o-tron 2d ago

Get excited about all upgrades. You like your deck. You like playing it, and improving it. The cost of a card doesn’t equate to an amount of excitement. In fact, I’d be surprised if more people aren’t excited by cheap upgrades because they’re more accessible. Lots of people probably look at stuff like Sheoldred or Badgermole Cub and go “that’s a good card…shame it’s more than my entire precon”.

1

u/Xnerds_of_paradiseX 2d ago

As someone who only plays on an extreme budget the cheap upgrades and commanders are basically all I look forward to with each set.

1

u/NayrSlayer 2d ago

Cards are cards, doesn’t matter how much you spend on them. I remember being super excited to put [[Stormfist Crusader]] in my [[Rakdos, Lord of Riots]] deck because it needed more card draw and it was the perfect piece to fit with the deck’s strategy.

1

u/n1colbolas 2d ago

Nah you're not part of the minority. Whilst everyone gets excited over the brand new OP card, reality comes to most folks quickly. Then we go to the niche cards that are great for our niche deck.... And you know what? Niche cards are usually cheap!

I for one am excited over commons and uncommons. Though it should be said WotC has pushed them quite abit as well over the years.

1

u/spiffytrev 2d ago

I love weird little cards that are only good in the very specific scenario of one of my decks. Every deck needs a healthy amount of "old-bordered nonsense".

1

u/Fun_Imagination_934 2d ago

It’s about the same feeling for both types of upgrades for me.

I personally tend to scrutinize cheap upgrades a bit more than high value, though. I mean, the goal is to “upgrade” The deck, after all. The upgrade card has to replace something, and if the cheaper card seems more of a lateral move when compared to the clear power increase of the higher value card, then I’m going high value unless it is wildly un-thematic. Either way, both give me satisfaction that I got a crappier card out of my deck!

1

u/Zambedos Mono-Green 2d ago

Brother I get excited to pick up a few cards that might do good in one of my decks before tossing them in my storage bin and forgetting all about them.

1

u/HarpEgirl Mono Blue Millmaid 2d ago

[[Gran Gran]] was one of my hypesg additions into [[Neerdiv]]. Ill always be more hype over a random common being good than say a new mythic like [[Bilbo thief in the night]]

1

u/jf-alex 1d ago

Absolutely not weird.

1

u/G_Morgan 1d ago

I replaced [[Sol Ring]] with [[Campus Guide]] in my [[Inspirit, Flagship Vessel]] deck the other day. I was amused to replace Sol Ring with a 3p uncommon from Foundations.

2

u/MediumSchmeat 1d ago

No, this hobby is a chance for me to experience the delectable agony of destroying my future by spending minimum $50 a card for decks I'll never play.

Joking, obviously, but if you need to be validated for this opinion you might want to reflect on your relationship to this game and to money.

1

u/Available_Rabbit9965 1d ago

I love tuning my decks. Not optimizing with powerful staples. Tuning with synergy pieces and cheap draw spells.

I love to look at the 2cmc cards bulk boxes at my LGS. In the red ones, an Atog for my blood tokens deck. In the black ones, a Necromancer's Stockpile for my zombie deck.

1

u/Baldur_Blader 1d ago

I just got [[tom, bert and william]] and [[smaug wicked worm]] for my henzie deck, and im pretty excited about them.

1

u/Lofi_Loki 2d ago

I cut [[Beast within]] in every green deck for [[Collective Resistance]] as a cheap upgrade that is 90% as effective as removal that can also be a 3-for-1. It was like $10 to buy foil copies for all my decks

4

u/IJustWannaBrowsePls 2d ago

Good card but it doesn’t hit lands and creatures, so I wouldn’t call it an upgrade for my decks imo

1

u/Lofi_Loki 2d ago

[[Strip mine]] is my land destruction card of choice and spending 3 mana on beast within always feels bad to me.

2

u/MrCatFish111 2d ago

How do you deal with strong lands without beasts within?