Mapping schools to MTG colours

[Elkad]

You played it when it was new, but missed how it was all over the same shelves when you bought your second, third, fourth, fifth edition or pathfinder books? I'm not criticising here, I'm legit curious how you managed to miss it, because I wish I could have.

Intro to D&D was with friends at Jr High, who had a basic set and a DMG. PHB wasn't released yet, which puts it firmly in 1979 (which also matches my age at that school).
Buy D&D box set in hobby store (basic set with cardboard cutouts instead of dice, and B2, plus a set of store dice I still have). PHB still not released. Mom is the DM, we clear a few sections of B2, and then have a TPK (dad and 4 youngest kids) in the ghoul room. Mom has never played a character, just that one stint as DM.

Continue buying in hobby stores, including while I was in the Army, until I had all the core 2nd books.
Looking at a date chart, Magic was new about the time the 2Ed reprints came out with the terrible cover art. 1995ish. That's probably when I played it.

1997 (spring): I switched to MMOs (UO beta), which devoured my soul. And my wife's soul. We were VERY addicted for a while.

In 1998 I moved. All my boxes of D&D stuff got stuck in the shed at the new place. Basic set, 1st ed, 2nd ed, every Dragon mag from 60 to 120ish, plus some odd issues, 3rd party stuff, nearly every 1st or 2nd module published to then, etc. Along with all my other systems. Traveler, Star Fleet Battles, Boot Hill, Gamma World, GURPS, Paranoia, Car Wars, etc.

In 1999 I discovered a roof leak in the shed. It was small, but it had been there for many months. Directly over those boxes. Everything except dice/minis was destroyed by water.

Fast-forward to 2011. In that decade gap my brother got another SFB set, which ended up at my house, but didn't get played a lot A couple times a year. Other than that I continued to play MMOs mostly (UO and DAoC are the bulk of it). New friend invites me to a 3.5 game. Started playing, then DMing. But everything (other than my old dice/minis) has been purchased online.

TLDR: I haven't set foot in a hobby store since 1994ish