I mentioned the next iteration of this site on LinkedIn and enough people were interested in what it is/will be - let's walk through what I've done.
BACKGROUND
The background for this is that I'm a collector. I collect. I want all the things.
In the beginning
I discovered Magic: The Gathering in 1994. I ... could collect it... So I did. A lot.
I've tried MANY systems over the years to track my collection. The earliest was a database interface I don't even remember the name. It didn't have good threading. 20,000 cards entered and it took 5 seconds to enter a new card. ... that was about 1/2 my cards.
I quickly learned that speed was critical.
Decades Pass
After a long absence, cards started to accumulate once again. The collector itch started to rise... the madness... sets in...
I once again pursue tracking my collection. I try site after site after site. None can handle the input speed I need.
I find card data...
A Whole New World
I know how to make things - I can make my own card tracker!! And I did.
Version 1 - 2021
I built 90% of that site over a weekend using a backend of Kotlin and a front end of HTML and javascript.
I tweaked and tuned that A LOT. Got most of my collection entered into it.
Here's what a set page looked like
Version 2 - 2023
I don't have GREAT pictures for version 2. It was rebuilt in C# on some azure techs.
The sets
Some Cards
It also worked really well. There was some roughness. But for what i needed it to do - great.
Version 3 - 2025
This is the current version. It's got a little more polish to it.
This is because of our AI overlords.
The Sets
The Set
I would do a better walk through... but I broke the site... it's all "CORS"... I'll deal with that later.
Current
Version 3 is my current. The front end is slicker because of AI. It's not getting free reign; I'm SUPER picky about it and apply good engineering practices.
Having worked through Version 3, and chatted with some other collectors, and some stuff I want to do... Version 3 is incapable of handling it. It's designed for the collecting I was doing; sets. Then WotC went all "INFINITE CARDS PER YEAR!!!" and I stopped.
Now I'm working backwards; and I'm looking at collecting in other forms. Version 3 can't handle that.
The next version is getting a lot more forethought and planning. I have built 3 versions of "what I need" and I have a REALLY good understanding of what it needs to be.
I'm a LAZY FUCKER - I can't stick with building something if it's not something I need. I need this site. I need the next version of it. I AM the targe customer for it. I pay for hosting. I was paying $50 per month for a while to have the site. Figure if I'm willing to pay that much; I can get a few people to pay $5.
Which leads to the LinkedIn question I had
Future
The site and data is getting a ground up re-architecting to support a much broader way of collecting. I'm still a completionish; but /what/ I want to complete has expanded in ways my current version can't manage.
This new site is targeted t collectors. And there will be a free tier. No way I'd pay for a site that I didn't know supported my needs. And honestly... it takes about 10,000 cards entered before I find the pain and frustration... and that's a lot of wasted time and effort. So... I'm building this for high volume, picky, specific, whiny, completionish nerds.
The target audience for this is pretty small. The amount that can be charged isn't high; but ... it's for me. I'm gonna find a way to share it. Current versions CAN be used by otheres... they just... are a little more adhoc than we'd like.
Version 3 was the AI experiment... and it went WELL. Version 4 is the realization of new ways to collect. With a focus on doing it "right" so I can make some extra card-buying money.
Out of Scope
There's other things I'd like to have... but other sites, with people passionate about it, are always going to do better. I haven't found a collector passionate site - so I'm showing up. :)
Obsession
I'm always happy to discuss this shit. It's a little bit of a passion for me. I am the customer for this.
I know a couple features I'm planning that I don't do a lot of; but I'll do it some more so I can make sure it works as well as I can.