Community

Normally, I have a set way of organizing my cards... You know, first by colour, then super type, mana cost, alphabetical and if I'm feeling crazy, lastly set etc. Most of us have a way of organizing things. My artifacts though, have an extra step: "Function".

Function: Do they primarrily give me life, or make mana? Are they cans, sticks, or totems? Do they just sit there, look pretty and do something on occasion? These are all things that I organize my artifacts by. Creatures are organized by tribe (the only thing that I organize by tribe is artifacts), then equipment are divided into Mirroquips, Buffquipment, Smart-O-Quipment and Hybrids.

When I first thought about this, I was thinking about "Why do I do that with artifacts, and not colours?"  Later, I came to my conclusion (slightly before posting).

Each colour doesn't need it.  Green makes mana and buffs creatures.  Red burns. Blue counters. White gains life, etc. Artifacts do all of that.  If I need a card that gives me mana, I look to green... occasionally red... If I need to steal stuff, I looke to red or blue.  I think about splashing those colours, or making it half of a deck... but artifacts can make a monocolour deck do anything, and dividing them by use helps me find what I need without looking through the collection a few times.

Man, that sucks!
So you do use function, to at least some point (mana producing vs. nonmana producing)