The number one question I get asked by people, who are looking in from the outside, is how much does this cost. Of course, there is no simple answer, so I’ll give you what I’m paying for it, which isn’t going to be normal. I’m definitely on the upper end.

First things first, this is a hobby and hobbies are often expensive. Unlike most other hobbies, you have a lot room to adjust the hobby to your needs and your resources. Yes, you can do pauper cube drafts with your friends in the communal area of your dorm, or you can travel to different continents to play your as-much-as-possible-foils, altered art legacy deck. It all depends on what you want from the game and how much money are you able or willing to put into it.

The key is that it you can do well without paying too much. You just cut down on the most expensive stuff and you need to dig a little deeper.

Cards

Yes, there are very expensive cards. The most expensive one I own is the expedition version of [scryfall]Misty Rainforest[/scryfall], which I’m looking to get rid of. Its an alternative version of card that’s pretty important to many legacy and modern decks, so its valued around 200 euros.

I do own a few cards simply for their collectability, although one of them was a gift and another was a prize for participating in an invitation only tournament (RPTQ or Regional Pro Tour Qualifier), for which I had to win a PPTQ (or Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier) to attend. These are all versions of Liliana, my favorite Planeswalker and range from 80 to maybe 140 euros.

Whenever a new set comes out, I use around 150 euros to get certain cards I want. I usually go overboard and many of the cards I get I never actually use, but those are generally cards that cost less than a euro, which I get just in case. I recently changed my approach and went for a strategy where I settle on a deck in Standard and stay with it until the next set. This does have a drawback though. If I go with this strategy, I usually need some of the more popular cards, which is expensive. For example, this time around (Battle for Zendikar) I only needed to get a few [scryfall]Canopy Vista[/scryfall]s and [scryfall]Gideon, Ally of Zendikar[/scryfall]s, the latter of which is about 20 euro card.

Also, this way I don’t get the high of designing my own decks, which is part of the allure of the game for me.

I also use 30-40 euros on EDH cards from each set. I usually get all the cheap cards I think I might want at some point. I buy the other cards later on when their price falls or move from my Standard collection once rotation comes around.

For Modern, I have one monoblue faeries deck, which cost around 25 euros for me (no [scryfall]Vendilion Clique[/scryfall] here), one monogreen infect for about the same amount of money, one monogreen aggro with a pricetag of about 80 euros and three monoblack decks that share plenty of cards ([scryfall]Liliana of the Veil[/scryfall], [scryfall]Inquisition of Kozilek[/scryfall], [scryfall]Thoughtseize[/scryfall] or example) with a total value of maybe 500 euros. However, these decks don’t need much attention anymore, so they don’t cost me anything, or you could even see them as investments, because they include plenty of cards that will probably gain value over the years.

All in all, I’d say I use around 1000 euros on cards each year, which I think I’m going to cut back on in the near future.

Events

I try to play in an FNM each week. If there’s a PPTQ in Finland or a GPT in my hometown, I’ll play. I’ll take part in at least one prerelease for each set. There’s plenty of opportunities to draft in my hometown, so I’ll often do two in a week. I’ll play as many WMCQs as I can and I’ll take part in other Finnish tournament series if possible. GPs are a different animal and are at least 50 euros or so, depending on what kind of package I get. The most expensive was something like 115 dollars.

To break that down a bit, the FNMs don’t cost me anything, as I judge them and get some store credit for that. I also pay most of my Prereleases that way. I’ve paid some of my drafts with cards for a long while now, so that’s pretty cheap for me as well.

That leaves me with maybe 60 euros for drafts each month, plus around as much money for all the other events.

Travel

During the 2014-2015 season, I went to six GPs. Some were just quick trips, while others were week-long vacations. The cost of each trip abroad was maybe from 500 euros to 1200 euros. Of course, some of these are my vacations and as such I would have spent the money on travel anyhow, but I’ll count it here anyhow.

I also travel within Finland quite a bit. Unfortunately, using railways in Finland is pretty expensive, but on the other hand, you can cut on that cost by buying the tickets when they are at their lowers price, usually a week before the trip, in which case its about 10 euros or 20 round trip.

That’s about 5000 on trips a year.

All the Other Stuff

Then there’s sleeves, snacks, drinks, actual meals and so forth. Since I would eat anyhow and I use a lot of money on food on any given day, this doesn’t really affect me, but its usually a bout 15-20 euros on food per bigger event. Also, I resleeve my decks before all major events, but that’s only a minor cost overall.

All in All

That’s around 7000 euros per year. Yes, that’s a lot, but I also am in a pretty good financial situation.

You definitely don’t have to use this much money…

How to Save Money?

Cultivate a network. Almost all Magic players cultivate a collection of cards and they don’t need them all most of the time. So, if you need a card, ask around to borrow one. Do return them afterwards, be ready to borrow cards to other people and in case you win, share your winnings (if appropriate). It will save you a lot of money in the long run.

Share expenses. How do I manage to use so much money on the trips? I often get my hotel rooms alone and I often don’t skimp on the quality of the hotel. If I always shared my room with other players, the cost would be much more manageable. I know plenty of players who do it.

Be ahead of the curve. Buying cards before they are popular is a good way to save money on them. Also, you don’t need to play the most popular deck. There are always options you can brew yourself or you can find cheaper, but effective decks by digging around.

Don’t open product, meaning boosters. Its never cost effective. It does have its own fun factor and a rush when you do open something great, but its still not cost effective. I try to do something with boosters when I do open them. I play some limited format or at least build limited decks from them.

Seek out alternatives. There’s always a way to make a cheap deck and there’s always a way to play the game very cheaply. You can get a preconstructed EDH deck for about 30 euros, and if you do your research beforehand, you can get one that’s both good and enjoyable for you. You can buy duel decks with your significant other and just play those. You can build a cube or hang out with someone who has one and only play that. You can play extremely aggressive, monocolored decks in Standard.

If you want to play the game, you can find a way to do it on the cheap. Of course, this depends largely on the people around you…