Founding Story & Vision

I love Magic: The Gathering! I was introduced to them in elementary school and I was struck by the dark, provocative artwork and complex gameplay. I was hooked for life!

From Ice Age to Odyssey block, I was a regular player and collector. I remember the days of playing on the sidewalk and trading in the schoolyard fondly. As life got more complicated (college, early career), I took a long hiatus from the hobby until I recently rekindled my love for the game. Since then, I've started collecting and playing again.

I've enjoyed the extra budget I have for hobbies now (no more mowing lawns for quarters) but I miss the serendipity and casualness of the hobby and the feeling of trading cards with your friends.

I recently went to Magic-Con 2026 in Las Vegas and had a great time playing the ticketed events. I loved meeting some of my favorite artists and browsing “bulk” bins and folders from vendors. What I didn't love is the economics of selling a collection to a vendor at 30–40% discount and then buying cards at a 10–15% premium. I looked high and low for folks to trade with and found very little interest. It was too hard to coordinate and clumsy/time consuming to look at cards that may not have anything I needed. At the same time, I saw folks wait 2–3 hours in line for the privilege to sell their cards at a 30–40% discount. Every trade made their collection smaller!

This led me to work on CardboardSwap. My goal is to offer a best in class collection tracking feature paired with the ability to browse the collections of other local players so players can initiate their own trades, all for free!

I recognize it's a long path but I am passionate about reviving the T in TCGs!

— VintageMTGHoarder (Cheng)