Hey guys! This past week I didn’t play any Magic, because I was busy traveling for work, out to Napa Valley doing some “recon” at a few wine orchards for my friend at http://www.napawinetour.net. Every time I’m out there I think, “Wait a minute—why don’t we live here?” I posted the following photo on Instagram:
See my wife’s comment on the side. I guess so.
At any rate, like I said, I was traveling for work, which is something I’ve done a lot over the last seven years—only a little shorter than how long I’ve been back playing Magic.
If you know me well, you know that two things I enjoy are: 1) souvenirs and 2) not buying souvenirs.
I like mementos, in other words—things to remember a place by—but I also hate junking up my life with kitsch and doodads, which only clutter up my apartment and contribute to what I see as the pointless manufacture of useless objects.
How do I resolve this problem? I take home my hotel keycards! And, while most people probably wouldn’t have much use for them after check-out time, I’m lucky in that I get to use them in one of my favorite pastimes: playing Magic!
Basically, I use hotel keycards as my Magic tokens. Sometimes I try to pick an appropriately colored token—red for a Goblin, white for a Warrior, etc.—but usually I just select a random assortment and stack ’em on the ‘field after resolving a Hordeling Outburst, a Take Up Arms, a Mardu Hordechief, or—god forbid—a Wingmate Roc.
Some of them are kind of funny, too: One of my favorites has my wife’s father’s name on it, from my wife’s brother’s wedding a couple years back. Another, from the Wythe Hotel, is from my own wedding! And the rest are a mix of work trips (all over the world), Magic trips (mostly domestic), and other random stuff, like a (spent—sorry guys) AmEx gift card.
Scroll down to check ’em out, plus a bonus set at the end of some of my favorite non-hotel keycard tokens.
What do you guys use for tokens? If you say pennies you are dead to me.
Finally, before I go, congrats to Hipsters’ own Carrie O’Hara on his awesome PTQ win last weekend in Jersey! I’m super happy for you, buddy, and I can’t wait to cheer you on this winter in D.C. at Pro Tour Fate Reforged!
23/17 is a Hipsters of the Coast column focused on Limited play—primarily draft and sealed, but also cubing, 2HG, and anything else we can come up with. The name refers to the “Golden Ratio” of a Limited deck: 23 spells and 17 lands. Follow Hunter at @hrslaton.