Hmm, I landed in Neutral for this vote. On the subject of proxies, which I think is sort of tangental to the main issue, I really don't care about proxies that much but it does irritate me if someone proxies a 3k deck. All the original duals, reserve list cards, mana crypt, etc... and proceeds to smash face with it. I never proxy anything myself. Largely because I don't have a great printer and I don't like the idea of a hand written or poorly done home-printed card in my deck. I'm a bit OCD when it comes to aesthetics for my own decks. Deck sleeves, playmats, dice and boxes have to match the deck in some way.
I don't have any other real investments nor do I ever plan on dabbling in stocks or things like that. I just don't have a lot of expendable income. So, it's nice to see cards I've purchased in the past gain value. Currently my collection sits at about $7k. That said, 90% of the cards I own are in commander decks that I regularly play with. I don't have binders of reserve list cards gathering dust in my closet. I don't like the idea of having valuable cards I'm not using. Kind of like a fancy car that just sits in your garage.
Recently, I've enjoyed buying cards at lower points so that I can grow my collection without spending too much. I ONLY buy singles and feel that sealed product is a big fat waste of money unless maybe you are playing a sealed tournament. I like knowing what I am spending my money on. I'm not a gambler.
I do tend to purchase a lot of bling cards. Full arts, foils, extended arts, showcase, secret lairs, etc... If I'm going to spend money on a card, I like having the potential for that card to accrue value over time, and there is a certain aesthetic satisfaction to playing with these.
I like when people can pick up cheap copies of cards that are powerful but more expensive collector versions also exist. Expeditions and lottery cards I think are a good thing for the game. I think if wizards does things right, they can please both the players and the collectors.
I really think reusing the old artwork is bad for the collectors and a big reason why they hate reprints so much, especially for special promos of cards. A good example of this that recently happened to me is
Sterling Grove . I bough the Seb McKinnon judge promo for around $20 because I am a fan of the artist. I liked the artwork and wanted a special copy. A few months later they reprinted sterling grove with the judge promo artwork and the actual judge promo price plummeted. Feels bad and I don't think that was necessary. We could have a had a reprint without destroying the collectors edition value.