Curse of OpulenceCurse of Opulence | art by Kieran Yanner

My fiancé, Stephen, collects a lot of things. His biggest collection is Power Rangers. He has the original Thunder Megazord and it's battered—but surprisingly not that battered—green box.

I helped him carry a five-story, black shelf up the stairs so he could have a shelf dedicated to displaying not only the unboxed figures, but their boxes.

While writing this article article I asked him which of his Power Rangers figures were original versus Legacy—a rereleasing of old Power Rangers figurines strictly for collecting. The way his eyes lit up, that small grin across his face.

I became a little obsessed with that smile, that desire to collect. See, I don't really collect anything. I keep my Magic cards in a sleeve, yes, but I have no intention of selling them.

I only buy them for functionality. I don't pick the fancy arts 99% of the time. Sometimes I run full art lands, but mainly for the uniformity. I've recently moved to basic lands that all look the same. It's cheaper.

I don't get foils unless I need the card and it's the only printing available. I don't like the way the light reflects off them into my eyes.

The art is hidden under the opulence, the flecks of silver and gold. It shines differently from its plain, flat, non-foil sisters. I want to understand a desire for this. I want to want to try to collect.

What is a Collection?

I told Stephen I didn't understand collections. I'd tried collecting coins and foreign money when I was a kid. I'd tried buying a few magic cards for their art, but ultimately, I didn't get any sort of thrill.

I've always been practical, only owning things I needed. I moved across the US multiple times with only the things I could pack into my car.

Stephen raised his eyebrow to my concept of a collection. He argued even two or three things could be a collection. I rejected this immediately, laughing, but then I became sort of interested.

I had a hard time finding an article that talks about "a collection" in a strict sense. Yes Merriam-Webster gave me something:

"something collected especially : an accumulation of objects gathered for study, comparison, or exhibition or as a hobby"

Could three cards in my hoard of practicality make me a collector? Molly Mendoza's Myrel, Shield of ArgiveMyrel, Shield of Argive from a Secret Lair, Dollmaker's Shop//Porcelain GalleryDollmaker's Shop//Porcelain Gallery by Cacho Rubione from Duskmourn: House of Horror, and Titania, Protector of ArgothTitania, Protector of Argoth from Modern Horizons 2 by Iris Compiet are enough to make me a collector?

It didn't feel right. There was a rite of passage, and itching obsession that I found prevailed the community of collectors.

I looked up a few collections and stumbled across this: "Plainview, Nebraska’s Klown Doll Museum is exactly what its name promises. Inside, nearly 8,000 clown dolls line shelves, fill display cases, and peer out from every corner.

Some are cheerful and brightly painted, while others lean toward the eerie, with frozen expressions that seem to follow you as you move through the space." This is what I figured was a collection. Or more relatably, a shelf full of Megazords and Tigerzords.

I tried looking up the legal definition. I was sure lawyers had ironed out if you can write it off for insurance purposes. I got trapped in the hole of "collections law" which is about taking money from people when they don't pay their debts.

I eventually found on Allstate website that, "Eligible collectors with qualifying items worth at least $15,000 can own a policy, and there is no value maximum." I didn't like this definition either.

Stephen's Power Rangers' collection might be worth maybe 3K according to him. That seems like a gulf in expectations.

It feels like lawyers had simply decided whether something was worth their time to take to court, not what something was actually considered.

The Urge of Collection

Alexander Mitchell wrote an article titled, "The Psychology of Collecting: Why Some People Love to Collect." He said some of the reasons were the thrill of the hunt, nostalgia, sentimental value, completionism, community, a desire to display, investment, escapism, identity, and even a desire for control.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe my three cards could be a collection. It seems small, but the reason I had them matched Stephen's reasons—matched some of Mitchell's reasons.

I felt an emotional connection to these arts. I liked the colors, the expression of line work. I liked Wedding RingWedding Ring by J.P. Targete—talking about it at length in my article about Magic art, but I don't own that version.

Maybe I should allow myself. Maybe it's stubbornness, trauma that keeps me from holding something in my hands just to admire its beauty.

On Allstate's website, in a particularly small font, it mentioned that while policies for insuring collections are available for a wide range of collections, "Items with non-market value and items for everyday use do not qualify for collectibles insurance."

Do we collect because they're valuable?

The Price of Opulence

Matt Bassil wrote an article called "The 16 rarest and most expensive MTG cards in the world." The list was as follows:

• Pristine Alpha Black LotusBlack Lotus - $3 million
• The 1/1 One Ring - $2 million
• Black LotusBlack Lotus Autographed Alpha - $800,000
• Mox OpalMox Opal - $108,000
• Lord of the PitLord of the Pit Alpha - $105,000
• TimetwisterTimetwister Alpha - $84,000
• Splendid GenesisSplendid Genesis - $72,000
• Vesuvan DoppelgangerVesuvan Doppelganger - $63,000
• Ancestral RecallAncestral Recall Alpha - $36,000
• Phoenix HeartPhoenix Heart - $27,500
• Time WalkTime Walk Gamma - $26,400
• EuroakusEuroakus - $25,200
• Fraternal ExaltationFraternal Exaltation - $23,750
• Mox EmeraldMox Emerald Alpha - $18,000
• Underground SeaUnderground Sea Alpha - $17,500
• Mox SapphireMox Sapphire Unlimited- $16,800

In the tenth place, Phoenix HeartPhoenix Heart, is what the average cost of a brand new 2027 model car is. My current car is estimated as being worth less than 2K. I thought about this for a while.

The difference between The 1/1 One Ring and the Black LotusBlack Lotus Autographed Alpha is 1.2 million dollars. If I added up every dollar I've ever earned in my whole life without taxes, it would have been less than the Black LotusBlack Lotus Autographed Alpha.

I think back to the $3,000 Stephen spent to have his collection and something feels wrong with equating these things with numbers. Stephen and I once drove for two hours one way to pick up Legacy Edition Black and Gold Dragonzord. I love long drive with him.

We'd laugh and sing and pick up food. It was an adventure. He would tell me about how when he was a kid he'd play with the original Power Rangers, that they were gone now, lost to the inevitability of getting older, lost to the lack of attention and love of a child.

The cost of his collection didn't matter, I think. It could be an investment yes, but when he reverently holds them in his hands it's not because he wants to lose them again.

Gonti, Lord of LuxuryGonti, Lord of Luxury

The thing that never puzzled me about collection was condition. Stephen stared at his original Thunder Megazord, running his fingers over the smooth surfaces, talking about its condition. Immaculate. I was the same with my cards. I wanted to keep them immaculate.

The first ever Rhystic Studies video I ever watched was, "Dear Gonti, Love Sophie." It was a discussion on the emphasis we put on the idea of damage to our Magic cards, how we treat things we adore. I was moved by this idea.

What becomes of a deck that we protect? What is its function anymore? Sam (Rhystic Studies) says pristine cards, "ha[ve] no memory or sentiment."

When I think about the creases of smile lines on my face, the wrinkles on my brow, I feel like they tell others about how I love to laugh, like to think.

I want to know what cards do, in the bends and the tears with their use. Is this what a collection should be, a display of experience and time?

I have two cards framed on the wall of my apartment. One is an oversized Kynaios and Tiro of MeletisKynaios and Tiro of Meletis from the Stalwart Unity precon from 2016.

It was my first precon and for 10 years I've kept that oversized card in somewhat pristine condition. I feel a connection to it, but I hadn't thought to put it up on display. Stephen had, finding it lingering in a binder somewhere. So, I put it up and forgot to look at it often.

The other card framed on my wall was my Prosper, Tome-BoundProsper, Tome-Bound. It has this crease on the bottom from me putting away cards too quickly, crushing him underneath. I never replaced it until my friend ReversalWizrd bought me the Prosper Secret Lair.

I'd spoke so highly of this deck that he bought it for me when I couldn't get it myself. But, I didn't want to get rid of the original. I wanted to display its crease. It sits above my desk.

Sam mentioned in his video that, "Keeping everything immaculate is a fools errand," but I'd go further. Keeping things immaculate is an adult's desire, it's a look into the future.

It's a way of keeping value for selling later instead of gripping onto the now. It's the prediction of separation, the expectation of loss. Children scrape up their toys, play with them, love them. They couldn't imagine the future, when they'd lose this joy.

I think about how much it might overjoy Stephen to hold his original toy, hold the one that he went to sleep with, opened on Christmas.

Sam said, "I've been reflecting on everything that I own. From my cameras to my books to my clothes and my guitars, all of my favorite things tend to be those that bear some sign of use," unsleeving his Ruric Thar, the UnbowedRuric Thar, the Unbowed deck and riffle shuffling it.

I'm not going to stop sleeving my decks, but I think I might stop and wonder about the history of a card that I buy with a ding or dent.

I'll think about DJ from Sam's video and how he "instead... uses his cards as they were intended to be used in an almost aggressive way."

Tell me about your collection. I'm @strixhavendropout on everything!