TCG Community Interview #2: @htxtcghunter

I interviewed @htxtcghunter, a member of the TCG community- here are his answers to my questions:

Q: What was the first TCG you ever collected or played?

A: Magic was the first TCG that I ever played or collected. I originally collected the Marvel and DC trading cards and then I saw Magic at the store and picked up a couple of packs, Beta or Revised, I can’t remember exactly, and loved the game. I can remember in college, going to the local comic store and picking up a few packs when I got paid. I just wish that I would have kept a few packs stuck away and not opened them. It would have also been nice to pick up some base set Pokemon also. It just looked so kiddie compared to Magic, Star Wars and Star Trek. It would have also been nice if I wouldn’t have sold my collection about 6 or 7 years ago for way too little. I get sad some days when I look at what I sold.

Q: Which TCGs do you currently collect/play?

A: I currently collect cards from all TCGs that I can find. My current count is right at 250 different games. I am trying to get cards from every game made. It is probably a hopeless endeavor, but at some point I will get them.

I don’t get to play much anymore. I play a bit of Pokemon, Magic and Gods Unchained online. I play some of the newer games on TTS to get a feel of the gameplay and what the game is all about. I do get to play some Magic with the students at school.

Q: What's your favorite card in your collection?

A: I have a few. From the big games, my favorites would have to be my Mana Crypt book promo or my old worn out Uncle Estvan that I put in all my decks. At the top of my list would have to be my old Spiderman “autographed” card from a Marvel live action show from the early 80’s or my Ninjanimals custom card. If you haven’t talked to the Ninjanimals creator about making you a card, you really should.

With all the games that I have, there are so many that I really like or want to get. I think it is really the surprises that I get when I find a new game. My favorites typically go with what catches my eye or that totally random card that others wouldn’t have.

I have found some really good cards in the games that I have picked up. I think that anyone trying to make a game needs to look at Anachronism. Their cards have a great look and feel. If you are going to make a new game, you really need to look at older games and look at what is a good look and feel. Even the largest, most popular games have good and bad things about their cards.

Q: What's your favorite TCG to play?

A: Magic has to be my favorite of all time. I don’t really like where it is going these days, but I still have enough older cards that I can still play with friends the way that we grew up with. It is also a lot easier to teach people with the way that Magic used to be. It was a lot more approachable in the earlier days.

While in college, I really liked playing Vampire/Jyhad. There was so much to the game that many games at the time didn’t have. I was very happy to see the game being brought back a few years ago and that there is still a championship series. Too bad it isn’t in the US right now.

I don’t get to play a whole lot anymore, which I kind of miss. There isn’t too many places near me that play kitchen table rules any more. If you aren’t playing Commander, there isn’t much Magic to be played around me. I would love to find a group that just plays jank decks just for fun.

Q: Which part of the hobby do you enjoy more, collecting or playing, and why?

A: I love collecting. It almost becomes obsessive. As I said earlier, I am trying to always find new game. I love scouring eBay, Instagram and the internet to find new games. It is also a lot of fun to go to antique shops to see what kind of hidden gems that I can find. It has also led me to some very interesting conversations and acquaintances. I have met a couple of people who buy storage lockers that are on the lookout for me for things they think are odd or that I don’t have. It is a lot of fun to show people the list of games I have and then hearing them talk about how they had a specific game and what I should be listening to. People seem to light up when they start talking about the games they played when they were growing up.

My wife gets angry with me at times when I want to take a side trip to a new card shop or a random antique shop as we are going on a trip. Even worse is when I see a town garage sale. I love strolling through them looking for cards, comics and old Star Wars. I can remember when we went to Mexico City for the Texans game a few years ago, I almost made us miss our tour because of trying to go to a comic shop and then seeing a street market. You can never pass up a good street market. There is no telling what kind of crazy thing you will find.

Q: What do you hope to see more of in the TCG community? What do you hope to see less of?

A: I hope to see more games with easily entry and easy to understand gameplay. Too often, games are overly complicated for people to quickly understand. The best games are the ones that are easy to learn and hard to master. It gives people a way to get into the game and keep working to improve their ability.

We need to see less games putting out extremely limited cards that are needed to build a competitive deck. There are too many cards that are coming out that are insanely priced for no real reason. Between the price of building a competitive deck or games that have not even been released having cards being 10 to 15 dollars for one card, it is hard for new people to get into the game. For games to succeed they need to build a player base and there are some great games out there that people will never be able to play because they can’t afford to get into it. Chase cards are great, but there needs to be a comparable, or base version, that everyone can afford.

Along with the price and chase cards from the game designers, the amount of flippers in the world is getting crazy. It hit its peak during the COVID period, but there is still way too many people just in the business to make a quick buck and not allowing people to get product. I can remember going to a Target to get some cards and a flipper blocked the aisle so they could take all of the cards as they were being put out. When I said that I only wanted 1 ETB, they told me that I could meet them outside and buy one from them. They picked up about 15 ETBs and wouldn’t give up one.

Q: What are your thoughts on the new indie and homemade TCGs that have been coming out recently? Which one is your personal favorite?

I'm loving all of the new indie TCGs. I found a couple discord servers of homemade TCG's and I love talking to the creators and saying all the new games created. Well I'm not a fan of the AI art. I've seen a lot of pixel art and other digital art in these new games and I'm loving it. My favorites right now are probably psychedelica and legions of will. I'm also liking the '80s vibe of I am champion. The fact that I am champion and psychedelica are local to me makes it even better. Another one that I'm really liking is back rooms. I'll talk to the creator Aaron many times about his game and games in general.

Q: Are there any hobbies you have outside of trading card games?

A: Outside of trading cards, I collect #1 issue comic books. Just like my collection of trading cards, the odder the book the better. I have collected probably 3 to 4 thousand different #1 issues.

At some point, when I hit the lottery, I am going to get a whole lot more of both games and #1s and set up a shop to show them all off. I will probably end up with a large shop that only has about 20% for sale. The rest will be there to show off.

Q: What do you like best about the community?

A: Many parts of the TCG community gets a bad name because of the flippers and the toxicity of some of the players, but I have met so many great people in the community. At my school, we do a card collection for a charity in our area and so many people have stepped up to help. Between individuals and LCSs, so many have stepped up in different ways. While it seems kinda simple, I was running out of energy cards for Pokemon, and I had a store tell me to come by whenever I needed to get some and they would supply me with all I needed. I put up in one of my groups that I had gotten a donation and I explained what I was doing. I had a great guy message me and tell me not to spend my money with anyone else. He offered to send me as many cards as he could for the money that I had in shipping. He ended up sending me 3 large boxes, about 15k cards, when the next best person offered about 2k cards. It wasn’t hard for me to make my decision.

Then I had a local person go way beyond what I could have ever expected. They sent me a box of cards and said to wait until I got home to look at what all was in the box. When I was sorting out the cards to get them ready to be wrapped, I found a stack of about 75 V, VMAX cards to use as chase cards for the kids. While I know they aren’t the super high end cards, the kids will be shocked to see them.

I know that there are more stories like this in the community and I wish that more of them would get out instead of the toxicity, scammers and flippers getting all the attention.

Check out some of @htxtcghunter's collection below and follow him on Instagram for more!