Cardsphere is not closing!

On August 31st, we announced that Cardsphere would be shutting down. Today, we have the happy privilege of letting everyone know that we are in final stages of completing a deal that will allow Cardsphere to continue under new ownership. We understand that people are going to have many questions, and we'll do our best to answer what we can here.

Before we get to those answers, Efren, Michael and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the community who have been incredibly supportive over the last few months. It's been a crazy time. There were more parties interested in taking over Cardsphere than we anticipated, and even more outpouring of the sentiment from the community that Cardsphere needs to exist. It's clear that an alternative peer-to-peer marketplace is necessary, and that people continue to want access to asymmetric trading in addition to Cardsphere's more traditional marketplace features.

Who is taking over Cardsphere?

We're not quite ready to let people know who the new stewards are, but we can tell you that Cardsphere is being taken over by a major player in the greater Magic community. If you play Magic, you have absolutely used their services.

As big fans of their existing services ourselves, we were immediately interested in working with their team. Throughout our negotiations they have shown us time and time again that they are fully aligned with the Cardsphere ethos - so much so that the deal is going to include specific language about continuing to honor Cardsphere's Terms of Service and Code of Conduct. They have placed great care and attention on making sure everything will continue to as it has been for the Cardsphere community, and this given us the confidence we needed to hand over stewardship to them.

Given the new owners' reach, I expect that Cardsphere will absolutely explode in 2024 and am excited to see this happen!

Are any of the Cardsphere staff staying on?

All parties are prioritizing our user base first and foremost, and so to ensure that there will be a smooth transition, Michael and Efren are staying on board as operating consultants for some time, training the new admins on the technical aspects of the platform.  At the moment, long term or permanent commitments are still up in the air.

Whatever happens, we expect to continue to be users of Cardsphere, and community members. Ted is looking forward to continuing trading into a cube with signed basics from trade partners, and Efren plans a nice big deposit into his account on day one of the new management. For those who don't know, Efren was the first customer to deposit money into Cardsphere on day one - and is happy to repeat this again.

When will the ownership change take place?

We are working towards what was originally considered our shutdown date of November 1st.

Didn't you claim that you would not sell Cardsphere user data?  

Absolutely, and we have not ever done so, nor do we have any plans to do so. Throughout the years, and especially since the announcement, we have received many offers to share our users' email addresses with marketing teams, new start ups, or other fledgling services and have never done so.  In our negotiations with the future owners, we have secured the inclusion of legally binding language within the contract that prohibits user data from being used in any other manner outside of site operation.

Anyone who has any concerns about dealing with the new owners can close out their accounts prior to November 1st, and the new management will not have access to any of your data. All closed accounts will be wiped before the control is transferred to the new team.

What about the articles, Discord, subreddit, and draft simulator?

To this day, I am amazed at the size of what the three of us were able to produce. We did not do it alone; we had an enormous amount of help from our Discord mods "The Tunnel Snakes", the unstoppable Pixie Kitten, and of course thousands of the most dedicated users you've ever seen from countries all over the world. But still, Cardsphere is not just a trading platform or marketplace – it's an entire ecosystem.

As the impacts of Project Booster Fun started to be felt by our small team, we had to draw back focus to our core functions, which led to some neglect on the draft simulator and other areas. Happily, the new owners don't just have way more reach than Efren, Michael and Ted, but also many more resources. The entire ecosystem is being transferred and as the dust settles, you can expect to see revitalization across the board.

What happens to my balance?

All account balances remain. The new management will honor all existing cash-out guarantees, rules and practices.  We believe that when the new owners are revealed that our users will feel confident that their funds are safe, but if there is any cause for concern, you still have until Nov 1, 2023 to cash out.

Where should I express any concerns that I have?

All of the usual places will continue to work fine - but we are encouraging people to do two things before providing feedback:

• Join the Discord or subreddit and check to see if your question has already been answered
• Avoid DMs to individual owners, new or old

The original and new owners will be working together to respond to the community as soon as the new owners make their announcement.