Frequently asked questions

MTG Hookups helps Magic players find local trades. Add the cards you have and the cards you want, then we show you nearby players with overlapping lists. We make the hookups. You handle the trade.

Add cards to your Trade Binder and your Want Binder. We compare your lists with nearby players and show you people who have cards you want, want cards you have, or both. A mutual match means the trade has potential on both sides.

Matches are recalculated every 5 minutes, not the moment you add a card. That means the stats bar, Hookups feed, and a card’s Matches tab can lag a few minutes behind your latest edits. The “refreshes in ~X min” countdown shows when the next update is due.

Why not update them live? We tried it. Recomputing every match after every change worked fine with a handful of traders, but as the site grows, goblins start pouring out of the database at an alarming rate. Under normal circumstances, zero goblins should be pouring out of anything. Rebuilding matches every 5 minutes keeps the site fast for everyone. No goblins required.

Paste an export from another site, upload a CSV or TXT file on the Import page, or search the full catalog and add cards one at a time. You can edit quantities, finishes, and printings whenever you like.

Sometimes you need one weird card for a commander deck and the only copy online is listed for four times its market price with five dollars in shipping. MTG Hookups helps you figure out whether somebody twenty minutes away already has it and maybe wants something from your binder in return.

Right now, yes. Matching currently works with U.S. ZIP codes only.

I'd love to support other countries in the future, but building something that works well close to home felt like the right place to start.

Your Discord handle is how other players contact you after a match. We lock it in when you sign up so nobody can pretend to be you. We only read your username. We can't see your messages, your servers, or your secret goblin group chats.

Discord is picky about DMs from strangers. If you and your match don't share a server, messages can get blocked, hidden, or treated as spam.

Joining the MTG Hookups server gives everyone one shared place so matches can actually message each other. Think of it as the digital equivalent of meeting at the same LGS.

Join the MTG Hookups Discord →

First, make sure you've both joined the MTG Hookups server. Then check that your Discord settings allow direct messages from server members. Once that's set, open their profile, copy their handle, and send them a DM.

No. MTG Hookups is not a marketplace. Nothing is bought, sold, shipped, escrowed, blessed, notarized, or judged by us. You talk to the other player on Discord and make the trade yourselves.

You can set your match distance anywhere from 5 to 300 miles.

The goal is to help you find hot singles in your local area, not across the country.

We use your ZIP code to find nearby traders. Your exact location is never shown. Other players only see your approximate area, and you control how far away matches can be from Settings.

Meet somewhere public. A local game store is perfect. Check cards carefully before you trade, trust your gut, and don't meet in a haunted parking lot behind a second haunted parking lot.

If someone says, "I left the cards in my van behind the abandoned Blockbuster. Follow me," maybe just don't. I strongly recommend that you do not.

Free, unless you count the emotional damage of discovering another commander you want to build.

Yes. Trade Binders are limited to 10,000 cards and Want Lists to 2,000 cards. These limits may change as the site grows.

Need more? If you're running a store or have a larger collection, message mtghookups on Discord and we'll get you set up.

Vacation mode hides you from new matches while you're away or taking a break. Your lists stay right where they are. Turn it off whenever you're ready to leave your exile zone and start trading again.

From Settings, you can export all of your data or permanently delete your account at any time.

MTG Hookups is a one-person passion project built and run by me, a Magic player who got tired of paying more to ship a card than the card itself cost. I wanted a way to see who nearby already had what I needed and what I could offer in return. So I spent an unreasonable amount of time building one.

No. MTG Hookups does not sell your data. Your info is used to run the site, find nearby matches, and help players contact each other through Discord. That's it.

No. MTG Hookups is an unofficial fan-made project. It is not produced, endorsed, or affiliated with Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro. Magic: The Gathering and related names and images belong to their respective owners.