The Myth of Sisyphus

Unique cards collected: 14,788 (42.62%)

Sets completed: 12 (Fallen Empires, Apocalypse, Torment, Judgement, Champions of Kamigawa, Ravnica: City of Guilds, Coldsnap, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Hour of Devastation)

Most valuable card: Zendikar Expedition Polluted Delta

Cards added since last update: 92

Unique cards collected: 14,696 (42.36%)

Sets completed: 12 (Fallen Empires, Apocalypse, Torment, Judgement, Champions of Kamigawa, Ravnica: City of Guilds, Coldsnap, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Hour of Devastation)

Most valuable card: Zendikar Expedition Polluted Delta

Cards added since last update: 80

Unique cards collected: 14,616 (42.16%)

Sets completed: 12 (Fallen Empires, Apocalypse, Torment, Judgement, Champions of Kamigawa, Ravnica: City of Guilds, Coldsnap, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Hour of Devastation)

Most valuable card: Zendikar Expedition Polluted Delta

Cards added since last update: 239

Unique cards collected: 14,377 (41.89%)

Sets completed: 12 (Fallen Empires, Apocalypse, Torment, Judgement, Champions of Kamigawa, Ravnica: City of Guilds, Coldsnap, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Hour of Devastation)

Most valuable card: Zendikar Expedition Polluted Delta

Cards added since last update: 266

Unique cards collected: 14,111 (41.21%)

Sets completed: 12 (Fallen Empires, Apocalypse, Torment, Judgement, Champions of Kamigawa, Ravnica: City of Guilds, Coldsnap, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Hour of Devastation)

Most valuable card: Zendikar Expedition Scalding Tarn

Cards added since last update: 50

Unique cards collected: 14,061 (41.07%)

Sets completed: 12 (Fallen Empires, Apocalypse, Torment, Judgement, Champions of Kamigawa, Ravnica: City of Guilds, Coldsnap, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Hour of Devastation)

Most valuable card: Zendikar Expedition Polluted Delta

Cards added since last update: 26

Unique cards collected: 14,035 (40.99%)

Sets completed: 12 (Fallen Empires, Apocalypse, Torment, Judgement, Champions of Kamigawa, Ravnica: City of Guilds, Coldsnap, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Hour of Devastation)

Most valuable card: Zendikar Expedition Scalding Tarn

Cards added since last update: 74

"I have no master. I am chaos." —Maraxus of Keld

Unique cards collected: 13,961 (40.78%)

Sets completed: 12 (Fallen Empires, Apocalypse, Torment, Judgement, Champions of Kamigawa, Ravnica: City of Guilds, Coldsnap, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Hour of Devastation)

Most valuable card: Zendikar Expedition Scalding Tarn

Cards added since last update: 140

Torment was the first expansion I managed to collect in its entirety, and there’s a nice degree of aptness to that, as a promotional copy of Faceless Butcher was the first Magic card I owned. Northern Ireland wasn’t a huge market for Magic at that time, and living in a small town it was hard to find product--so when a new magazine, whose name is lost to me entirely, gave away a copy of a preview card for the upcoming “black set”, I lapped it up. Here was the game I had read about, seen on the internet, but now it was in my hands, complete with some disturbingly awesome Daren Bader art.

Coming back in later life, the set was quite cheap to collect--only Cabal Coffers hit double figures in pounds sterling--but tracking down some of the jank cards was tricky; the last piece I needed here was the iffy enchantment-wiping uncommon Searing Meditation. This is often the hardest part of completing an older set from this time; anything of value is usually easy to find for sale for the right price, but often sites selling singles are missing stock for the worthless cards no one bothered to keep, so it can come down to picking up individual cards here, there and everywhere, although there is an element of enjoyment to this kind of hunt.

In terms of noteworthy cards, Torment is absolutely packed with moments of great flavour, and tremendous art. Chainer’s Edict, Circular Logic, Cabal Coffers, the Tainted lands and Waste Away all feature evocative art, often in a hand-drawn, figurative style that’s sorely lacking in modern art direction. The flavour, too, was often memorable--the Compulsion cycle of enchantments, Hypnox (well, the whole Nightmare mechanic), madness, Transcendence and Mortal Combat are home-runs in this regard. 

Given that I started playing (well, what passes for playing) back during the Invasion/Odyssey standard, Magic’s 25th anniversary celebrations are definitely hitting some nostalgic notes for me. As it stands now, Masters 25 is exciting me more than Dominaria--but of course, it’s hard to show off a set just from the dry nature of a release note so that could change--but something about those watermarks, and seeing reprints from the sets that really got me excited as a young teen, like Planeshift, Apocalypse and Torment, has me very happy. I’m a sucker for all things Phyrexian though, so some of the spoiled cards in Dominaria will tickle me just right, and if the set overall hits the right spot I might even try to collect it in all foil. 

But the nostalgic themes have gotten me thinking about my earliest Magic purchases and what really drew me into this game. I first encountered it in a Dublin toy shop during Masques block, but looking at the cards baffled me as much as it intrigued me. The art was, of course, very evocative--at that point, Masques and Invasion blocks often had an almost sci-fi look at times which really felt right given that general feel at the turn of the millennium, and I don’t think we’ll ever see that again, but looking back, cards like Vindicate, Void, or Predator, Flagship just wouldn’t work (and haven’t!) with more traditional fantasy art. 

The setting at the time, too, was very interesting to me--apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories seem to be what pique my interest most in Magic, and Invasion’s “end of all things” arc was just incredible for me at that time--especially Apocalypse, which I couldn’t find in shops anywhere back then, despite having plenty of Planeshift; its then-unusual enemy colour pairings, big-finale story and plethora of cool moments like Pernicious Deed, Vindicate and Gerrard’s big appearance as a creature just made it the be-all and end-all to me, and it eventually became the second expansion I completely collected. Time Spiral and Scars of Mirrodin blocks would later hit these same themes too, and I’ve loved both of them. I don’t know if Dominaria is going to feel the same way--the idea of another Gatewatch story being foisted onto it definitely dampens my story hopes--but I think the Sagas (especially if they have a frame treatment like miracles or vehicles) and the teasing of a new Legendary frame will at least make it a visually interesting set with some individual moments of promise. 

Unique cards collected: 13,821 (40.37%)

Sets completed: 12 (Fallen Empires, Apocalypse, Torment, Judgement, Champions of Kamigawa, Ravnica: City of Guilds, Coldsnap, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Hour of Devastation)

Most valuable card: Zendikar Expedition Scalding Tarn

Cards added since last update: 273