I have recently been checking on blog posts and articles on how to optimize the things inside your home and to maximize the use of the spaces. In effect, you are getting rid of the extra stuff, clutter and other things that you don’t need.

I have thought that this can be also possible with your Magic: the Gathering card collection. Why this will garner a positive effect of you being a player and a collector?

Here are the reasons:

You keep the cards that you need in your deck for example. If you are going for just Red Green Aggro or Blue White Control, you only keep the cards in those colors for future deck upgrades and changes.

You are saving more money. Focusing on a certain set, deck theme or archetype make sure that you only spend on the cards within those limits. Also, you do not get tempted to buy cards components of a trending or popular deck.

More time to playtest and practice. Having more cards means more time needed to build decks out of them. You do not spend more time building as your only focus is the main deck and in effect you get more time allocated for practice and play test if there is a card tech you’d like to try.

Lesser storage space. Having only one deck box and card album for surely not serve as a clutter in your room or cabinet.

More unneeded cards to sell. Getting your prizes from your local FNM or a big tourney means mostly opening booster packs. Those Rares and Mythics that are not your colors can be sold to your friends or fellow players and get the monetary value.

Do take note that these benefits might vary on the format you play. For instance, Standard is a continuously rotating format and so your card collection will surely expire whether you like it or not. As for Modern and Legacy, this is the fixed format and the right one to invest your cards. You just need to wait for every new Magic: the Gathering set to come out and check which cards you would need to buy your deck and collection.

I usually use the fat pack box I bought with the dividers to separate the cards by color and card number. You can also check on your local hardware store for storage boxes with similar dimensions that can store your card collection.

Overall, downsizing being part of organizing your Magic: the Gathering cards will surely offer positive results.