A2Z TCG — Local services in Murphysboro

I drove over an hour to come to this game shop to play magic. It’s a nice store with a big selection. The prices and selection were fair and guy at the counter tried to get me integrated into a game. He was kind. That’s where the positivity ends. The players had just started a SIX player game. I explained that I only had a few hours and I was hoping two players would drop and start a game with me but no one did. No biggie, I’ll just chat with them and make conversation the players at the table who treat me like I wasn’t there or at best, disinterest so I just sat there like a ghost. After an hour of me just sitting there waiting for a game two more players showed up and I asked them to start a game but they said they were not ready and wanted to wait for another player. After a while another player showed up (which meant 4 players including me) but they STILL said they still were not ready so I just continued to wait. It had been 2.5 hours at this point. Then someone got knocked out of the 5 player game, stood up and walked over and sat down with the three players who told me to wait and immediately starts playing with them! I have played magic since revised. I have played in 30 states and in 8 countries and I have NEVER, EVER been made to feel this unwelcome. Add on that I drove two hours round trip means I wasted around five hours of my life trying to play magic at this shop only to be treated like I’m invisible. This was an overwhelmingly negative experience and I HIGHLY CAUTION any new players from going there. The shop is fine (which is why I gave them three stars instead of one) but their clientele are cliquish jerks. Well except the guy with the Pokémon tattoos, he’s cool. The rest of them though, not friendly.

edit: I randomly was talking to a player about negative experiences in game shops today and I though about this. Curiosity got the best of me and so I came back to look. Pretty disheartening to see fabrications like "I was welcomed with open arms". That's just not true. I previously gave you 3 stars because you personally seemed like you have integrity but now it is clear that is not true. Enjoy your one...

Pros- They have an extremely well put together system for when you are wanting to make an in-store order. The only magic shop I've been to between here and St Louis that will take on orders and pull cards for you in ridiculous numbers. That along with their kiosks that have up to date inventory mostly with out fail it's a good place to go when you can't find your last few cards for whatever you may be building. They also will update incorrect pricing on the spot to accommodate.

Cons- like with almost all shops now selling any product to the store is comparable only to having your fingers slowly bent backwards until they break at each knuckle. From the cards I brought in to sell I was undercut below their supposed "50%+ offers" on cards above 10 dollars they have a system in place that is essentially a shitty quality grading ranking from "mint, slightly used,heavy play, to damaged" how that's decided I have no clue but it is definitely questionable. Cards I purchased that were marked "slightly used" came out with worn edges, fading, and light layer pealing around the edges heavy play cards had the exact same issues 10 fold and I didn't even bother buying a damaged printing. For all I know the card might have come in a build your own 2 piece kit if marked "damaged". Meanwhile on the selling end they will look at a card with slight fading and hit it with the "heavy play" to "damaged" qc for my example I sold a Sheoldred, The Apocalypse foil when I was strapped for cash building a new deck for only 27$ when the card was worth 110$ at the time. that left a sour taste for sure that I can't say I think I'll ever get over primarily because the card was bought from the shop a month prior and was directly double sleeved after I walked out to my car. Of course the next week I went back the card was back in their system for the same previously marked price I bought it for at 110. Eugh.. still probably the second best shop around after an...

I've been a long time customer of A2Z's and Randy Arena's and have bought countless products and cards from his store (even after he has moved 3 different times). I really hate resorting to this option but after years of Randy "playing the victim" and calling us "negative influences", I felt like I had no choice but to leave this review to give fellow TCG players a heads up. PLEASE BE WARNED. When you buy a card from his store, there is a VERY high chance you will be banned from his store if a card just so happens to go up in price a couple days later. I promise that I and my friends have never "bought out" cards or tried to "shark" his store just to make a quick buck. We don't believe in that. My friends and I are avid Yugioh players and we look for new cards all the time. Some of us play the same deck and when that happens, we need multiple play sets of a card. The way the market works, is sometimes cards will get unbanned which will raise the price, or a pro player will make top cut at an event which will also cause prices to go up. Several of my friends have lost out on multiple orders over the years because, instead of honoring his prices (or simply just doing his job and updating his prices), he will cancel your order and ban you from his store. The truly funny thing about the whole thing is, Randy will also constantly complain about how none of the Yugioh players will show up to his store to play. How can we now though if we are banned? Not to mention most of us live anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour away. We have careers, families and a life outside of playing Yugioh so we can't always make time to show up. I don't wish ill upon him or his store, but rather send warning that anybody who steps into his store might pay for overpriced cards, have their order cancelled and potentially be ridiculed behind their back. My regards- Ex-customer of 5+ years.

Also adding a picture of how he treats...