I’ve been into the Magic scene for a few months now, and the limiting factor in the hobby is that is often necessary to go to Seoul, or know someone in Seoul to get a supply of cards. I haven’t tried ordering online, which requires dealing with Korean websites and payment systems in Korean. The cards in drafts I attend are bought by ordering cards from the United States, shipping them privately, and then paying tax on them. It’s still cheaper than buying Korean cards from Seoul!

It’s hard to believe that the import market is that difficult a nut to crack for people in Daejeon, when people are going up to Seoul and fueling their trip by selling off their cards. If someone was willing to buy English cards and then sell to foreigners and Korean players, at least the people in Daejeon would be well served from the service. It turns out that someone in the Magic group that plays with me has found a place that had English cards for sale! Huzzah! This is the location on Daum Maps. It’s on the Second Floor, the place called Duel Mall. Google Map Link. Their website is primarily about selling other games. If anyone is looking for Magic: The Gathering cards, go there, speak English, and make it clear you’ll buy cards if you can get them in English. I haven’t been there myself, but if I do end up visiting the location, I’ll be doing the same.

Unfortunately, the English cards are now entirely sold out, and now there are only Korean cards (M12 edition) for sale. The latest set (Innistrad) isn’t available from the Korean distributor in English or Korean at the moment, and won’t be printed for a few months. I have no idea if the owner will be ordering more English cards in the future. The prices are still prohibitively expensive (w4,400 per pack! Ouch!), and the Korean text is extensive. Without knowing Korean well enough to parse rules written in gaming jargon, or being able to recognize cards on sight from their picture, you won’t be able to play with the cards.

I don’t know the majority of the ~300 cards in the M12 set well. I’m not interested in ending up with cards in the set with Korean text that I’d have to learn from a visual spoiler and then play. I guess I could, but that doesn’t seem the best way to enjoy the game. Learning how to play cards in a set I am unfamiliar with while trying to play in a second language isn’t a good thing and probably would decrease my enjoyment of the game. I’d need to sit down and look extensively at the Korean and the English cards to see if I could play with them. There is enough to worry about playing the game in English, let alone another language.

Anyone saying “I’ll use this to study Korean!” is fooling themselves but I understand the sentiment. “I can make this work!”

Yeah, but I probably wouldn’t bother if you can’t do it in English after all. It’ll be interesting when the Korean cards floating around reach a critical mass and people will be forced to start playing with both in their decks. Perhaps playing with a visual spoiler primer printed and available to everyone to make sure everyone is clear on the rules will become a normal thing at the table. When the Innistrad cards are available, knowing 90% of the cards (Minus rare cards) would make playing the game with Korean cards a lot easier. I imagine getting Korean packs for fun or as prizes wouldn’t be so bad, although I’d greatly prefer the English.

At least there is now an option for players that don’t mind the language barrier, or want to play the game and didn’t want to purchase cards online or go to Seoul.