A few months ago, it came time for me to make a rather painful decision: You see, the only Magic player who had been there for me consistently finished school and moved far, far away. At the same time, the irregulars all stopped by at one time or another and sadly informed me that they had gotten too busy (or had become too broke) to continue playing Magic. And, at about that same time, I was having difficulty justifying the time away from my family for FNM.

I had finally reached the point where I had to seriously look at giving up my cardboard crack. I could no longer find the time to play - which made it very hard to justify the expense of cards, never mind taking the time to build decks, most of which would never get played because I didn't have time to play them.

So I tried giving it up. Sort of.

I only bought one box of Judgment, and even that was done in small batches over nearly two months.

I only rebuilt one deck using Judgment cards. That poor deck never even saw play in the four months it existed.

I took it apart last night.

The other thing I did was give Magic Online a try to see if I could live with the switch from cardboard to digital.

One of the things that I could do with Magic Online was stay home while I played Magic.... Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't have to give up Magic completely. Maybe I could just buy a few packs of cards and a starter or two. I knew that if I just bought two starters and four booster packs, I would have everything I needed to build ten decks (one of each two-color pair). They wouldn't be good decks, but they'd be decks and I could at least play.

Well, you can guess what happened, can't you?

The decks were so bad that they weren't any fun to play.

Sigh. This Magic Online thing was not working out as I had planned.

I knew that I was going to have to give up Magic once and for all: I even came to peace with that decision. No regrets. Magic came into my life when I needed it, I enjoyed it while it lasted, and now it was time to move on.

Then my friend started emailing and calling. When was I going to get online so we could play a few games? Why hadn't I been on the other night so we could dual?

Whatever. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try hooking up with him for a few games, just for old time's sake. I had a few of the digital cards, and it didn't cost me anything to log on and play a couple of games against my old friend with my crappy decks.

A couple of weeks later, I finally found my friend and got added to his clan. We went off to trade. I only had a couple of tradable rares at that point, which I traded for a couple of his tradable rares. Already my decks were improving. I really helped when he threw in all of his extra commons. Four Basking Rootwallas and a Llanowar Elf will go a long way towards improving a G/x deck!

A few more packs of cards, some drafting, and a few more excess commons from my pal... And all of a sudden I have a couple of Constructed decks that I can play in the casual rooms. They aren't tightly-tuned tournament decks, but they are fun to play, they win occasionally, and they didn't cost me a fortune.

So I'm back playing Magic. I'm playing online, but I'm playing. I'm not buying insane quantities of cards like I used to, but I am playing.

Which brings me to the topic of today's article.

Last night I sat down to purge the Invasion block cards from my Type II decks. FNM is Type II and I never play real cardboard outside of FNM, so this sort of makes sense. (But only sort of.... I'm not playing cardboard Magic these days, so I have no idea why I would need to keep any Type II decks current. Well, maybe just in case I need to play cardboard-based Type II one of these days, I should have a deck ready. Yes, old addictions do die hard.)

While I was taking decks apart was when it hit me: Bytes really are better that cardboard, at least for me.

Why?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

First, and foremost, because my cards will last longer.

I'm not talking about the fact that my digital cards will never physically wear out like the cardboard cards. I'm talking about the fact that online I'll actually have a chance to play Extended. Last night, I put away cardboard Kavu Titans, Flametongue Kavus, and Spiritmongers, among others, knowing perfectly well that those cards will never, ever see play again unless I manage to trade or sell them.

This left me with a great sense of loss. I worked really hard to get those cards together. I bought packs. I bought singles. I traded. And now all of those cards will spend years in a card box on my shelf somewhere.

They deserve better than that. They deserve to be played. But who will play them? I'd like to, but I'd have to play extended to do that and don't know of any extended tournaments in my area.

Worse yet, Invasion cards are quickly decreasing in value as Type II players sell or trade them in order to raise cash for Onslaught. There is more supply than demand in the market for Invasion block cards these days. As for the cards that are good in Extended, how many Extended players didn't buy them while they were Type II legal?

On the other hand my one digital Flametongue Kavu (yes, only one, so far) will see play as long as it is legal in Extended, which will be for another couple of years if I understand the new Extended rotation schedule correctly. The reason is simple: With cardboard, I don't have an opportunity to play Extended. With digital, I do.

Just like I can log on anytime I am moved to play draft or a casual dual or two-headed giant, now I'll be able to log on and play Extended. How cool is that? Finally I'll be able to get the benefits of the extended format. Something I haven't had since.... Since....

Since ever.

Except for a handful of casual multiplayer games, I've never gotten to play Extended.

I don't know if Magic Online players are going to dump their Invasion block cards when Onslaught finally becomes available. I hope not. I liked Invasion block. There are a lot of cards in that block I'd like to play in Extended... And Magic Online is going to be my only chance to do that.

The other reason that Magic is better than cardboard is that I've finally broken the nasty habit of buying packs. I've known for a long time that for many of us, purchasing singles just makes more sense than buying packs. But the allure of those packs of cardboard was just too much for me. The first few packs of a new set were just too much fun to open. Thumbing through the unfamiliar cards to see what you got. Finding out what new cards there were to discover. I really like opening packs.

(This never diminished for me even with the early release of spoilers. For me, at least, reading the spoiler just isn't the same as seeing the new cards in my grubby little paws.)

So despite knowing better I'd buy pack after pack, sometimes to the point of buying a whole box of cards just to try and get a couple of rares that would have cost me a good deal less to buy as singles.

Bah!

But with Magic Online, there is no thrill to opening the pack. The digital images are not cardboard to be thumbed through. The sound effects of the computer just cannot reproduce the thrill of opening a pack of cardboard. Opening a pack of digital cards doesn't give me any kind of a thrill at all.

So these days, I'm just buying singles and I'm spending a lot less than I used to on packs.

Oh, sure, I still buy some packs now and again for drafting. And I'll probably never completely give up buying packs of new sets. But for the most part, the impulse to buy packs is pretty well under control.

Turns out that in the long run, Magic Online is actually less expensive for me than cardboard. Even when the packs I buy are fully priced. I buy fewer packs and more singles. Not a bad deal at all.

There are other reasons as well: You can play anytime 24/7. When you lose your single-elimination draft match, you don't have to hang around looking for someone to play two-headed giant against; you just click over to the casual room and get in a game.

For the person willing to splurge on cards, Magic is a deckbuilder's dream come true. No more searching around for cards that are in another deck. No more needing to keep eight or twelve copies of staple commons (or rares) in order to build multiple decks. Just a few mouse clicks and the computer re-files all the cards from the deck you just put away and pulls all the cards for the deck you are grabbing. Add to that the ability to go play the deck a few times, change it, and play it again a few minutes later... And how could any compulsive deck builder not be in seventh heaven?

So Magic Online means that I didn't have to give up Magic. I'm still playing, although not a lot. I don't spend as much and the cards I do own are playable longer.

Sounds good to me.