It is maybe a while since I bought books of my favorite titles for reading on my vacant time but I realized recently that I trigger impulse buying when it comes to books. Whenever I pass by Booksale Bookshop in Robinsons or Gaisano City back in our city, there is no instance that I leave the store without a book in hand. That may be because I still have that fascination with checking topics and reading them, which I have inherited since childhood.

I also got the impulse to buy books on the Shopee app since it is easily accessible on my smartphone. I try to associate some titles on my Magic: the Gathering card game hobby and I checked on old book novels related to the game’s storyline. Starting with just one product search in the app, and I found myself minutes or even an hour later looking for other book titles that got my interest. I am more fascinated by buying old or secondhand copies as they are cheaper. I remember one of my previous purchases on the shopping app was very old, and was a pocket player guide to Magic: The Gathering Fourth Edition. That instantly caught my attention since I had before borrowed MTG Novels from my friend’s collection which he got when buying the Fatpack products of the past sets. It was sad though that they discontinued it when I already had the buying capacity for those products.

The book themes or topics that I always check whenever I visit a bookshop are about self-help and recently, on urban planning. That is after taking my Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning, I needed to further develop my knowledge. There were urban planning books recommended during our study but I am also open to reading something that is more sector-specific like in the areas of Smart City or Transportation development.

The last time I purchased a few books was before I got the schedule to go here to Korea for my Master’s. Sadly, I had to leave them back at home for the reason that they would bear more weight in my baggage. I also thought that time that I might not be able to focus on reading them due to I have also lessons to study.

For now, I am thinking of checking local bookstores to find some interesting book titles. I may have a list in mind beforehand, based on Best Books of the Month by Amazon for example. Maybe I will do it on a vacant weekend to explore these shops. I do hope so to have some ample time and budget. Wish me good luck.

So yesterday was the second day of the full week Magic: the Gathering tournament for Iloilo City and this was held at Critical Hit: Comics and Games at around 6:30pm. We had nine players in attendance to duel for the Standard Showdown packs along with the regular GRN boosters. I was the TO and I, unfortunately, forgot to bring a deck which supposedly filled the tenth player slot. anyhow, as I was handling the event, I decided to check on the other booster pack products that they are selling. I saw that there were still a lot of Ixalan booster packs and I have though of the notable Rare and uncommon in the set which I can sell later on. I initially bought three booster packs and got two ok-ok Rares and a crap Mythic. Also, only Kitesail Freebooter as the notable Uncommon. Unsatisfied, I decided to check two more booster packs and still no luck. I was persistent that I can open at least a Search for Azcanta or Carnage Tyrant and ended up with these.

That is about eleven Ixalan booster packs opened. No Tyrant or Vraska’s Contempt or Vraska herself. A few of the Rares and Mythics I opened were the following:

Settle the Wreckage
Rowdy Crew
Burning Sun’s Avatar
Ripjaw Raptor
Entrancing melody
Overflowing Insight
Spell Swindle
Wakening Sun’s Avatar
Fathom Fleet Captain
Sunpetal Grove
Shaper’s Sanctuary
Kinjalli’s Sunwing

Notable Uncommons were Chart a Course, Siren Stormtamer, Unclaimed Territory and Lightning Strike. To sum up all the cards’ current prices, it has barely made in half of the total amount I have spent of those booster packs. I somewhat regret it, yes, but it was the risk I took. I was hoping to open a good Mythic but all three were just about a dollar in cost. Anyhow, I would still get the value by selling these cards to the other local players and use the remaining Commons to build some tutorial and freebie decks for the next Learn-to-Play sessions.

Enough of this rant. Until the next post.