On the subject of investment into a hobby, the depth of your engagement, I think magic is an interesting beast isn’t it.. I mean it’s perfectly plausible to have competitive and enriching experiences without plunging yourself into the grind that leads to professional play.

That said, I’ve had similar (not identical but similar) experiences myself. Just recently I was sitting next to Ivan floch and three of his teammates talking strategy, and the benefits (and I suppose the necessity) of a dedicated team become abundantly clear to you as an observer and wannabe competitive player. There’s a reason why these sponsored teams exist and tend to do so well on the highest stage of play.

Maybe it’s something I’ll get into eventually. A new store just opened up in my town (we have been without a store for a while) and there’s the possibility of creating a store-team, so maybe that’s the place where I step onto the train in terms of upping my level of engagement with this hobby. It would certainly be fun to have a sense of camaraderie and worth within the community, more than just being the guy who made & pushed a fringe deck in modern to something that kinda nearly broke into tier 1 once upon a time (that’s another story).

I guess my issue is that I don’t play standard. Haven’t since original innistrad was still legal. My modern game is strong, my sealed game is strong, I used to draft every week but frankly I’m way out of practice and I just don’t do standard anymore. Doesn’t bode well for trying to compete at a higher level haha. We’ll see how it goes :).

Anyway thanks again. This article is a nice lens through which you can judge and analyse your own experiences. It’s well written and enjoyable too. Thanks!

I won’t play at the Pro tour, ever. But I still enjoy this hobby and consider myself heavily invested, from my perspective. And I am fine with that. In truth, Magic helps me cultivate my cognitive function of thinking in a playful way. We all have different reasons to why we play. I have quit a lot of times in the past. Enough to realise that I am always coming back.