Scrye Magazine

Today's post is a walk down memory lane.  Scrye Magazine was published from 1994-2009 and covered the collectible gaming industry (most notably Magic: The Gathering).  Each issue had price guides, card lists, strategy articles, deck designs, game company advertisements, and previews of new games and/or expansions.  Sometimes, they even packaged exclusive cards with the magazine.

This magazine was a product of its time.  In an era before ubiquitous internet, it was the resource people used to determine card values when trading/buying/selling.  The articles were often written by gamers- meaning they were poorly done- but had information you couldn't get anywhere else on the best strategies and decks.  (Indeed, I picked up a few old issues because this is still the only place you can get information on some long-dead* CCGs.)  The advertisements for getting cards via mail order made me smile and laugh . . . ahhh, the way things used to be.  (As an aside, a quick study of companies in one issue found that only six of the 32 companies are still in business.)  And the price guides remind me that I should have spent my savings on Magic cards twenty years ago, so I could enjoy an early and luxurious retirement today.  Hindsight, as they say.  Anyway, I enjoyed this magazine and continue to thumb through back issues on occasion, mindful of the Internet's obvious advantages while mourning a bygone era (and the demise of physical conduits of gaming information).  R.I.P., Scrye magazine.  Thanks for the memories.

*a dead CCG is a collectible card game that is no longer produced.