How Often Do You Support Your Local Game Store (LGS)?

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Card Slinger J
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Post by Card Slinger J » 3 years ago

I don't think this question gets raised enough though I am a bit curious. As for me before the pandemic hit I've always tried to support my LGSs once every weekend though now with the quarantine I've mainly been making my purchases through TCGPlayer since the proceeds actually go towards the Local Game Store (LGS). I did manage to make a few orders from my own LGSs several weeks ago, one through their eBay store and another through their e-commerce website. One of my noteworthy purchases that I've made from one of my LGSs was a lightly played Worldly Tutor from Sixth Edition that I bought for $13.00 before it spiked to $20.00 that I picked up for my Nissa, Vastwood Seer EDH / Commander deck. Also happened to pick up a lightly played Mox Opal for $48.00 at another LGS I normally go to for another EDH / Commander deck for a friend of mine. I also ended up purchasing a Thassa, God of the Sea from the same place I ordered my Worldly Tutor before shopping on TCGPlayer and eBay for other cards I needed.

I refuse to shop on Amazon unless it's an emergency situation. Maybe with non-essential businesses across the country starting to slowly open back up perhaps we'll start to see more people sell their MTG collections at their LGSs when they weren't able to beforehand due to the businesses being closed with no buylist orders or appraisals let alone mail deliveries and curbside pickup. With the Secondary Market for Paper Magic being at a standstill right now tells me that most players are still holding onto their collections thinking that they'll be able to ride out this economic downturn. Perhaps more people have decided to abandon LGSs completely in favor of supporting flea markets and thrift stores when it comes to letting go of their MTG collections. I actually am getting a "wait and see" approach with most of the MTG community with how they're responding to the pandemic though I'm probably making this assumption through Magic YouTubers who still continue to upload content considering how few they are right now.
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Post by user_938036 » 3 years ago

I have never bought or sold singles to my LGS. I am also one of the few people who don't regularly buy singles. On the rare occasion I do buy a single it is usually at a GP or a flee market like place where a number of stores gather. I've never bought any type of magic product over the internet do to a combination of an irrational fear of the internet that has slowly waned over the last decade, a desire to have what I bought immediately, and a rational fear of the internet that has steadily grown over the last decade. My irrational fear of the internet is simply "what if this isn't real". While my rational fear has been "OMG, hackers can get my info nearly anywhere".

As for how often and how I support my LGS. It has actually been a few years as I was forced to quit magic by life a number of years ago and more recently sold my collection as I moved on to exclusively playing Arena. When I did play paper magic I would buy from my LGS only if they gave me a discount on what I was purchasing. Though to be fair I always purchased a lot. My smallest purchases were single boxes that I would get at $90 when I wanted to have fun opening packs. More regularly I would be sets of Commander or whatever product filled the reconstructed deck slot such as planechase and archenemy. If My LGS was following the hype train on these and selling above MSRP I went to Walmart or the like to find them at MSRP. My largest purchase of magic was Khans of Tarkir. Because I knew I wanted 2 playsets of the fetchlands as well as a playset of every mythic along with the usual stuff I buy; I made all of my Khans purchases upfront and negotiated buying 2 cases at $85 a box. Other than that I took a lot of store credit out of circulation as that was the usual prize for FNM and I think I stopped going to my LGS with at least a thousand dollars in store credit unspent. The only thing I ever used it on was covering my entry fee and some D&D books that were old.

I don't know if I was a good customer as what I describe was over multiple LGSs as I played at more than 10 over my 12 years of magic with part of that being some closed forcing a switch and going to not so local game stores for better tournaments.

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Post by The Fluff » 3 years ago

I go to the store to buy cheap mtg singles from their binder when a set is newly released, also perfect fit sleeves. Our lgs is also my source of a niche tcg = kantai collection cards. Overall, I buy there maybe a few times a year.. mostly during a set release.

My main source of cards is still Starcity Games. Have been buying regularly from them for more than 5 years now.
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 3 years ago

I love my LGS and its community therein, so I try to put 10-30 bucks in their pocket whenever I go. I buy 90% of my product from them (the 10% exception being when my impatience overtakes my perspective) and I do my best to give them first crack at my money out of earned loyalty.

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Post by motleyslayer » 3 years ago

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, I've bought an event deck and preordered 2 of the commander decks coming out this week.

On an average week when everything is open, I'd say I spend my FNM plus a drink at least on a Friday. If I go on a Thursday to Saturday, I'll usually buy a drink each time I'm there and maybe $15-30+ during a week period.

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Post by Card Slinger J » 3 years ago

There are people within my local community who refuse to get a part-time job to financially support their Local Game Store (LGS) because of scheduling issues with having to work during the weekends which is when they want to play. So they tend to rely on other people that do have a part-time job with weekends off to help pay for their cards, decks, and sleeves though it depends on how much disposable income is being made to help compensate for it. The people who do have part-time jobs would still need to support themselves aside from other people in their playgroup (two would be the max IMO). E-commerce has made it a whole lot easier which is why I'm a bit surprised that the Comic Book Shop that doubles as an LGS in my area hasn't expanded past their eBay Store. So it's not that these people are lazy when they're more worried about having to spend less time with their playgroup is all.

As much as I'd like to play at my LGS on Sunday or any other day of the week it's a pain since you got to make money to spend money. When people like Rudy from Alpha Investments complains about why days outside the weekend aren't as active at the Local Game Store (LGS) it's because MTG and most of it's competition is an expensive hobby that requires money to keep up with on a weekly basis. I feel it's already gotten to a point where the barrier of entry might be too expensive to keep up with compared to how "cheap" the hobby was about a couple decades ago. It might have more to do with the cost of collectibles in general becoming more expensive over a long period of time as we're just now starting to see the financial side effects from it. There's simply not enough Paper to meet the demand that Digital provides which costs less resources even though people like me hate that alternative.
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Post by RxPhantom » 3 years ago

As often as possible. My LGS is open again despite not being able to hold events, so I went and dropped $100 the other day. They were pretty new when they had to shut down due to COVID-19, but still managed to become an important part of my ecosystem. I want them to thrive.

What I won't do, though, is pay more than 'MSRP' for something I can get at Target. This LGS (that I still love, by the way) wanted to charge me $75 for the Jeskai Commander deck. I went to the Wal-Mart located - no joke - just behind the LGS and picked it up for what I consider to a still egregious $45.
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Post by Henlock » 3 years ago

I think it depends on what's your relationship with your LGS. Mine it's quite close. I took my son there after Aether revolts's prerrelease and he found great community that behave very responsibly around him for as long as he was young enough. Now that he's a bit older he doesn't go as much but it was practically his second home for a couple of years. I have taken birthday cakes, homemade Magic-themed easter eggs and even Gingerbread men for Eldraine's prerrelease on my son's behalf, and I even have made the store some favors with my vehicle, The store has lent me cards for events more than once as I also play there and even reciprocated some favors I did them with cool presents, I buy most of my stuff there, except for those .25 cents singles the store doesnt bother on curating. They are holding online events, quite successfully. I bought my Ikoria prerelease pack and I'm eagerly waiting for the C20's, But apart from buying, I'm willing to help my LGS in any other way should they need it.

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Post by Card Slinger J » 3 years ago

So I just recently discovered that Local Game Stores (LGSs) in the U.K. actually go by another name known as "High Street" stores though I'm not sure about other countries in Europe. I know Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon TCG are more popular than MTG over there from what I've heard in recent years. MTG is probably a lot more expensive in the U.K. than it is in the U.S. due to the cost to import the product given the current trade war and the tariffs. Canada seems to have the same issue as well. I don't get why MSRP for MTG products hurt countries that are trying to sell them when that seems to be the opposite case especially when getting rid of MSRP makes the products more expensive by allowing stores to price themselves out of business.
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Post by folding_music » 3 years ago

I tend to just buy a precon or a toolkit when I stop by a gaming shop, but honestly I don't play M:TG in shops at all. It's more likely I'm in a store like that because I was in town anyway and was walking past it. Not really interested in FNM or limited, I've kinda just morphed into a collector and solo variant maker nowadays, even before the obvious pandemic situation. Once or twice I've gone out especially to a gaming shop to sell big-name cards I don't really want - fetches or certain valued EDH cards I have duplicates of, but I get credit and spend it on toolkits and bundles. I like having access to the breadth of the cards released in the game but am not particularly seeking chase cards, just one of as many cards as I can get.

The other way I get cards is by buying common sets and U/R/M singles from a few specific people I trust on cardmarket.

(am in the U.K.)

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Post by Mapccu » 3 years ago

Always tried to throw a few purchases a month to the LGS as a show of thanks. Was mostly packs for years, occasional single if I saw something I wanted.

What drove me away is the crowd my LGS began to attract and retain. Finally one of the owners said something inappropriate in front of one of my customers from my professional setting trying to be funny while at the LGS. I really didn't appreciate it and my support went to zero overnight. I had shrugged off crappy comments for years, but what was said was false and inappropriate and they've paid a price for it. I used to spend thousands annually in games and gifts, much of which was through them.

The recent sets have driven me away from the game in general. Since the lockdown I've thrown them one purchase as an olive branch, but they were a last resort behind the big box retailers when the new set dropped.

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Post by motleyslayer » 3 years ago

I usually buy my product at an LGS over a big box store unless I just really wanna buy an impulse pack or two when I'm already at a big box store.

The crowd that regulars an LGS is probably something that often goes unnoticed in a sense of what you like/dislike about a store. I feel that the crowds are what impact people's decision a lot in my area

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Post by Card Slinger J » 3 years ago

I wonder If a more sustainable method of In-Store Play is needed that would help ease the burden of having to support Local Game Stores (LGSs) where the profit margins to keep themselves in business through Organized Play events for MTG and other Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games are severely low. I remember hearing rumors about GameStop and Target trying to cash in on "selling" the LGS experience however my biggest concern for this is that it would be too corporate based on how big box retailers are especially Walmart.

GameStop is already going the way of Blockbuster but mainly due to their lack of good public relations with their customers where as with Blockbuster it was Netflix and Redbox that ultimately did them in. I remember Toys R Us used to run Organized Play events for Pokémon TCG back when Wizards of the Coast used to own the rights for it though I'm not sure If that was the same case for Yu-Gi-Oh! during the late 90's and early 2000's. I didn't get into Pokémon TCG until the late 2000's though I've been itching to get back into it at my LGS with Pokémon Sword & Shield.
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Post by Legend » 3 years ago

I've lived 4 suburban neighborhood blocks from the same LGS since they opened 23 years ago. Over the decades, I've spent thousands of dollars there on Magic product and singles (not to mention snacks). There are a couple of other LGS that I've similarly spent hundreds and thousands of dollars in. I always check LGS before resorting to the internet. The only thing I like buying online are small change commons. I can't put a price on the relationships I've developed with the owners over the years (not to mention other patrons). We talk about our homes, our families, entertainment, culture, hobbies and interests, and even our various world views at times. I've had disagreements with them, and I've had lunch with them. I did house repairs for two of the owners and the manager of another. We've watched our kids grow into young adults. Our kids have played games together in the shop. I have the personal phone numbers of three owners and two managers. In fact, I was just texting with one two days ago. The list goes on and on. Worth every penny.
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Post by Card Slinger J » 3 years ago

It really seems like LGSs nowadays have been reduced to nothing but grab and go places to where you're no longer able to sit down and play games with other people for hours on end. It's unfortunate. That's because most LGSs besides mega corporations are struggling currently, some of which have been closed by executive order for the past two months. If an LGS has a low operating margin then even If they open back up today they would need 3 times or more of their normal business to make up for the loss regardless of how much you support them in these trying times. While it's true that you can't substitute Online Play for Paper Magic whenever something becomes Digital it loses it's value much faster.

LGSs were able to adapt their business models in the past whether it's computer gaming, table top rental space, video game rental space, or expanding product lines, but now they're unable to adapt given the current challenges imposed by COVID-19. They can do limited traffic flow or curbside pickup. Losing profits from online stores that don't belong to them sucks. eBay plus PayPal takes about 13% where processing credit cards takes about only 3%. Cash is always best for small business. If you're selling luxury paper products and people are needing to pay rent, nobody's going to buy your luxury paper product when they can get toilet paper for much cheaper! :P

Be prepared for a massive amount of bankruptcies. An LGS is too small of a business for the U.S. Government to care about. If a business was making less than a million dollars a year then it's highly doubtful that they got the money from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in the United States. Best case scenario is that online orders help sustain the business until it can re-open more. Maybe someone else buys out the stores and creates new ones. It's happened before. Things are going to get wild soon. PPP was only good for 8 weeks and it's going to be over soon within the 2nd week of June for a lot of places. Whether If there will be an extension to the legislation we don't know right now.
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Post by toctheyounger » 3 years ago

It's literally the first place I go for my product. The owner really is a pillar of the community and a super nice guy, so I'm very happy to do so. He's worked really hard to keep an eye on what his customers want and always gives his loyals a fair shake at reasonable prices and reasonable trade in credit, so he's got my loyalty until the day his doors close, hopefully sometime far, far into the future.
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Post by Card Slinger J » 3 years ago

At this point I think it's only up to whales who can effectively help support Local Game Stores (LGSs) since they have much more disposable income than those who only work paycheck to paycheck. Now the term "whale" is taken from gambling terminology, not mobile "Gacha" gaming terminology. It's the definition of someone dumping a large amount of money into a game they can never retrieve (consume), as a whale can only consume and not liquidate. MTG is a liquid product because the Paper cards can still be sold within the Secondary Market where as items in "Gacha" products aren't tangible. So I guess that changes the terminology of what is considered a "whale" when it comes to Paper Magic.

A Local Game Store (LGS) probably has a better chance of surviving from a millionaire spending $20,000 to keep that business up and running as opposed to someone who only makes $200 every two weeks or have decided to spend their $1,200 Stimulus Check to support the business for at least a month. If I recall, Local Game Stores (LGSs) need at least $1,000 a month to stay in business or their landlord kicks them out because they weren't able to pay rent. While it's much faster for them to reach that monetary goal by accumulating entry fees for Organized Play events, selling food and drinks, as well as flipping card singles and sealed product, If there's less customers showing up due to social distancing...well...
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Post by motleyslayer » 3 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
3 years ago
It's literally the first place I go for my product. The owner really is a pillar of the community and a super nice guy, so I'm very happy to do so. He's worked really hard to keep an eye on what his customers want and always gives his loyals a fair shake at reasonable prices and reasonable trade in credit, so he's got my loyalty until the day his doors close, hopefully sometime far, far into the future.
I try and go to my local stores first as well. My main one is right down the street and will usually give me a bit off the price. Sometimes their selection isn't the greatest and sometimes trading stuff into them isn't an option as they're picky with what they will take on trade in. I just consider that part of doing business in a small town though, they don't often get people who would be willing to buy expensive cards outside of a few people. I will usually do my trading in at Magic Fests, because usually that's when I find vendors will take more anyways.

But as for buying I'll keep trying at local stores first, there's also the benefit of not having to wait for what I bought

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Post by toctheyounger » 3 years ago

motleyslayer wrote:
3 years ago
toctheyounger wrote:
3 years ago
It's literally the first place I go for my product. The owner really is a pillar of the community and a super nice guy, so I'm very happy to do so. He's worked really hard to keep an eye on what his customers want and always gives his loyals a fair shake at reasonable prices and reasonable trade in credit, so he's got my loyalty until the day his doors close, hopefully sometime far, far into the future.
I try and go to my local stores first as well. My main one is right down the street and will usually give me a bit off the price. Sometimes their selection isn't the greatest and sometimes trading stuff into them isn't an option as they're picky with what they will take on trade in. I just consider that part of doing business in a small town though, they don't often get people who would be willing to buy expensive cards outside of a few people. I will usually do my trading in at Magic Fests, because usually that's when I find vendors will take more anyways.

But as for buying I'll keep trying at local stores first, there's also the benefit of not having to wait for what I bought
Being honest I'm really blessed with an excellent LGS. He's fair with prices, will find what you're after if he doesn't have it, and knows his stuff really, really well. He's a collector and sometimes MtG player, so he's got a great knowledge of formats and printings as well as what the market is doing.

He's actually gone above and beyond during the lockdown. My wife got me the 5 commander precons for my bday last Tuesday, and because he doesn't trust the post (they've really screwed him around before - absolutely ruined his mythic GRN booster box), he literally delivered them to my doorstep on a Saturday evening. He lives fairly close to me, but that's still going out of his way for his customers.
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Post by motleyslayer » 3 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
3 years ago
motleyslayer wrote:
3 years ago
toctheyounger wrote:
3 years ago
It's literally the first place I go for my product. The owner really is a pillar of the community and a super nice guy, so I'm very happy to do so. He's worked really hard to keep an eye on what his customers want and always gives his loyals a fair shake at reasonable prices and reasonable trade in credit, so he's got my loyalty until the day his doors close, hopefully sometime far, far into the future.
I try and go to my local stores first as well. My main one is right down the street and will usually give me a bit off the price. Sometimes their selection isn't the greatest and sometimes trading stuff into them isn't an option as they're picky with what they will take on trade in. I just consider that part of doing business in a small town though, they don't often get people who would be willing to buy expensive cards outside of a few people. I will usually do my trading in at Magic Fests, because usually that's when I find vendors will take more anyways.

But as for buying I'll keep trying at local stores first, there's also the benefit of not having to wait for what I bought
Being honest I'm really blessed with an excellent LGS. He's fair with prices, will find what you're after if he doesn't have it, and knows his stuff really, really well. He's a collector and sometimes MtG player, so he's got a great knowledge of formats and printings as well as what the market is doing.

He's actually gone above and beyond during the lockdown. My wife got me the 5 commander precons for my bday last Tuesday, and because he doesn't trust the post (they've really screwed him around before - absolutely ruined his mythic GRN booster box), he literally delivered them to my doorstep on a Saturday evening. He lives fairly close to me, but that's still going out of his way for his customers.
I've had way more than my fair share of issues with Canada post i n my area but I won't really get into that.

My LGS delivered a challenger deck and 2 commander decks right to me, so that allowed me to support them while everything was closed down.

My main LGS isn't as knowledgeable about the game itself as they've traditionally only really done Magic as a place to let people play rather than being huge on it. It's only been within the past 7-8 years Magic has really grown.

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Post by toctheyounger » 3 years ago

motleyslayer wrote:
3 years ago
toctheyounger wrote:
3 years ago
motleyslayer wrote:
3 years ago


I try and go to my local stores first as well. My main one is right down the street and will usually give me a bit off the price. Sometimes their selection isn't the greatest and sometimes trading stuff into them isn't an option as they're picky with what they will take on trade in. I just consider that part of doing business in a small town though, they don't often get people who would be willing to buy expensive cards outside of a few people. I will usually do my trading in at Magic Fests, because usually that's when I find vendors will take more anyways.

But as for buying I'll keep trying at local stores first, there's also the benefit of not having to wait for what I bought
Being honest I'm really blessed with an excellent LGS. He's fair with prices, will find what you're after if he doesn't have it, and knows his stuff really, really well. He's a collector and sometimes MtG player, so he's got a great knowledge of formats and printings as well as what the market is doing.

He's actually gone above and beyond during the lockdown. My wife got me the 5 commander precons for my bday last Tuesday, and because he doesn't trust the post (they've really screwed him around before - absolutely ruined his mythic GRN booster box), he literally delivered them to my doorstep on a Saturday evening. He lives fairly close to me, but that's still going out of his way for his customers.
I've had way more than my fair share of issues with Canada post i n my area but I won't really get into that.

My LGS delivered a challenger deck and 2 commander decks right to me, so that allowed me to support them while everything was closed down.

My main LGS isn't as knowledgeable about the game itself as they've traditionally only really done Magic as a place to let people play rather than being huge on it. It's only been within the past 7-8 years Magic has really grown.
Yeah, because of the way it was packaged they thought it might be drugs, so they tore apart the packaging and opened it right up with force. When he complained he just got tied up in red tape. Can't say I blame him for not trusting them!

I'm pretty blessed with both of the LGSes I frequent. The other has literally been around for 20 years now, and if you board game or D&D they know literally anything you could want to ask them. Likewise with MtG, both the owner and employee are big players who've been in the game a long time.

Ultimately if I can't find what I'm after my next resort is SCG, which isn't ideal from here in New Zealand, but they're the only online retailer that doesn't absolutely shank you on postage, so they're my only other option. They're fine, but I'd more or less do whatever I can to keep my LGSes in business. They're great guys and the vibe for games in each store is excellent. Bottom line they both run excellent services that deserve to be kept in business so I'm happy to help them do so.
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Post by motleyslayer » 3 years ago

One of my other stores in my area, which is in the next town over has a great stock and loves the game, so I try and go there when I can. Which isn't as often as I'd like as I don't drive as of now. So I'm kind of stuck waiting for when other people are going.

I find that shipping can be annoying when it's within your own country, so I can understand not wanting to dealing with post offices at all.

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Post by Card Slinger J » 3 years ago

So I asked Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon TCG players how often they support their Local Game Store (LGS) where I did manage to get more feedback from Yu-Gi-Oh! players than I did Pokémon TCG players where they weren't willing to share their experience unless they completely migrated over to PTCGO. Most of the complaints stem from overpriced products, terrible prize support, and unfair treatment to certain TCG players. There's even some stores where the staff are rude to their customers making them feel like a burden to them. This type of behavior I think needs to change.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! scene has actually gotten much worse since I left back in 2004, you have a situation where there's players referred to as "rule sharks" where they abused their power and bent the rules of the game to their favor to the point where many appeals to the LGS staff to eliminate or punish this unethical behavior went unheard. It got to the point where tournaments were no longer held and the stores lost their official sanctioning. A lot of LGSs still sell Yu-Gi-Oh! products however there's not much of a community left for it where there's still a much stronger community in the Pokémon TCG.

I'm well aware that this is a MTG forum though this affects it's competitors as well too.
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Post by motleyslayer » 3 years ago

there's no community in my area for Pokemon and even the Yugioh one barely exists outside of a few people who play casually at one store on Sunday. Even then those players barely seem to follow the rules because whenever I've been there playing Magic they always seem to allow take backs or stuff that used to exist under the rules but not anymore.

I find that a lot of players I know from Magic switched to MTGO/Arena exclusively because it's cheaper and you can play whenever. Another problem was 2 of the 3 stores in my area provided a bit weaker prize support and the other store that provided overly generous support stopped running events because of weaker attendance. So now events are a bit down outside of FNM and prereleases really

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Card Slinger J
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Post by Card Slinger J » 3 years ago

There actually was a community for Cardfight!! Vanguard in my area that's slowly died down since Bushiroad power creeped themselves into soft rebooting it. There's also a small Yu-Gi-Oh! presence in my area same with Pokémon TCG where most MTG players come to play EDH / Commander on Saturdays. Another LGS I go to mainly has players playing EDH / Commander on Friday nights and sometimes on Tuesdays If they get enough people. MTGO/Arena I don't think is a good substitute for Casual as it is for Competitive.

Other than that, my closest LGS is doing a gradual re-opening to the public to see If they spot any upticks of COVID-19 infections that from what the owner told me is expected to last for a few more weeks so I expect the store to be fully open to the public by early to mid July If things go smoothly. Since they're also a Comic Book Shop I also discussed the recent situation with DC Comics breaking up with Diamond Distributors and told me that they found a new distributor to sell DC Comics at their shop being Lunar. So that was good news.
"Salvation is for those who are afraid of Hell. Spirituality is for those who have lived through it."

- Ralph Smart

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