My desk currently has exactly 70 decks on it. My work desk. And I'm a programmer (e.g. I write code) and I work from home -- since before the 'vid was a thing but we can get into that at another time. Why isn't my desk covered with soda cans, chips, floppy disk coasters and all of the other cliché gizmos you would find on a programmer's desk?
But yeah, 70 decks... Two of them (pictured above) are in current daily use, two are past-dead and need to be tossed, two are just there because I picked them up and haven't moved them but the rest... why on earth? Why on my desk?!
Black Friday, that's why.
It's not really much more than that. Companies that sell cards know that people (over) spend during the late fall, so they do heavy marketing and special releases around that time. Art of Play, Theory11 - ugh, you all get my love and cash!
What I tend to do is save up coupon codes or special deals like "20% off" or "$20 off orders over $100". Then, pick a brick of cards and will get a discount on that too (e.g. $12 a deck down to $9 a deck). Because it's a larger order, there's also free shipping. Heck yeah. After tax we're looking at about $8 a deck or even less. I get excited just thinking about it! Though, the wife doesn't seem to see it the same way I do 👀
Stay tuned, I'll be showing off some of my Black Friday purchases soon too!
Are there other decks?
"But wait," you say, "if the some-odd-number of decks on your desk are only from Black Friday sales, where are the rest?!"
Oh, I'm glad you asked! So, everywhere really.
I have a display case in the corner of my office that holds my going-into-play line-up. I haven't counted, but a quick side-glance over at it I'm going to guess it's holding around 60 decks. Mostly unique. I always have one or two in the living room for you know, practice TV time. And then there's the closet.
Storage Solutions Begone
I really wish I had an organizational structure to brag about for my closet. I wish I could tell you that I have cool slide-out drawers or maybe a tiered system where I could easily see all of the decks or, even better, just grab the one I'm thinking of. It would be amazing if I could tell you that I know exactly where every deck in my closet is, even if it's not easily accessible. But no, that's not close at all.
I'm not going to show a picture of it because honestly, it's embarrassing. I do show clips of it occasionally on my Instagram story (follow me!) but it's just a chaotic mess.
I'll get inspiration for a fun photo shoot and I know I have just the perfect deck for it. 15 minutes later and moving pile after pile of decks I finally found it and have lost all interest in the photo shoot and just want to burn the deck for hiding so far away. Ugh.
It's organized every once in a while when I shuffle it around so much that I get annoyed, and I do have a "system". The rare ones that I won't touch for a long time are in the back corner. The common ones (like Bicycle Standards or NOCs) are along the left wall. The ones that are themed are over there, etc. I organize it, and then a few days later I need a rare deck that's at the bottom of it's pile. I have to move everything. Ugh.
Inventory and Location
It's funny, or sad?, but I can tell you if I own a deck and where in my house it is. Any of the decks I own, without a problem. Albeit, if it's in my closet of wonders I may not be able to tell you the exact location, I can tell you it's there. Every deck!
Ironically, I can't do the same with books. My book supply is less than my deck supply (thank you Costco $15 bricks of Bicycles!), but somehow still I can't remember at least a quarter of the books I own. I'll read a reference to a book or see a related sale somewhere and I have to think "do I own this one?! nah!". 7 copies of Royal Road later and maybe I'll finally remember...
That's one of my hopes for this site too. A side-hope, if you will. To make accessing my inventory that much easier. Also, it'll help in organizing my closet.