This is a very good question,a dn I had never really thought it through before now. I have several thousand decks, a handful of bricks purchased that way, and another handful of decks in brick quantity, where I have bought enough individual decks to have a brick, but didn't buy it that way initially. I'm not a magician, although I purchase a lot of magic tricks to satify my curiosity about how they are done. The deceptive and creative skill showcased in some of these sleights and gimmicks absolutely fascinates me. I'm not a card flourisher (although I'd love to be!), so I'm basically a plain old collector. Thinking it through, I would have to reluctantly admit that, as far as cards go, I'm probably more a hoarder than a pure collector. I open a few decks, especially more common prints, and play with them, but never open my rare ones, and I keep them in crush-resistant plastic boxes, in airtight plastic storage. I do view them often, and show them off to others on occasion, all the while playing up the efforts of the designers, and outlining the complex process (from my point of view) of idea to art to production to my hands. Although I know that they are art, I don't really think of them that way, but I think that ties in to the brick mentality, to a point. I buy the cards that I really like, regardless of popularity or rarity, never thinking about resale value, if any. There are a few designs that I really, really like, and I buy extras (or a brick) of them simply because I know that I will use them for the rest of my life and while they may be available on eBay in 10 years, they would most likely be cost prohibitive, when considered as a per-item pricing structure. Yes, I'm tying my money up now, but I'm fine with that. On occasion, I get cards that become successful (read: expensive to replace), like Fed52, and I keep them sealed, no matter how much I'd like to open them, just in case. All of this long-winded diatribe to state that I believe that it's simply a matter of the natural desire to hoard what's important to you, whether it be food, art, guns, cards, Beanie Babies, ceramic figurines, et cetera. This is purely from the "Not buying a brick because I will go through them performing regularly" perspective. Just my two cents...actual value varies!