The commoditization of the modern card market, and the direction the hobby is heading into as a whole is something that I'm not a fan of. I'm not talking about the microcosm that is here on Net54.
One doesn't need to look any further than what the National has turned into. I did enjoy the time I spent in Atlantic City this past summer, but the obnoxious breaking culture was everywhere to be seen. Card "influencers" were running around, the WhatNot booth had people chanting "WhatNot" over and over again. I thought I was at the circus and not in a good way. I'm happy the Hobby is popular but I cannot stand the fact that in some ways certain aspects of the hobby have been ruined by social media. I don't mean to sound preachy, or like I'm looking back with rose colored glasses, but things had to be better than this in the past.
I quite frankly, can't stand modern cards. I'll rip a pack or two just for the hell of it, but other than that It's completely lost me. The Manufactured rarity, the hundreds of different sets, the "relic cards" with questionable origin in terms of the material put into them, and the autographed cards with signatures that are either complete chickenscratch or downright printed letters. I fully anticipate a "tulip mania" when it comes to the modern card market, it will come, eventually.
I'm not telling anyone what they should collect, but I'll stick to my cards of players long since dead, retired or both. It's simpler, it's more enjoyable, and reminds me of years, long past when the Hobby was just that, a hobby. More and more I find myself relating to this:
