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A
Cassius Marsh. What's happening, bro? Welcome to the show, man.
B
What's going on, brother? I appreciate you having me.
A
Yeah, my pleasure. Yeah, it's great to have you. It's been a long time coming. I know we connected a while back and. Yeah, you were. You were gracious enough to take one of my 15 minis. I call them. I network every day.
B
Yeah, yeah, no, it was great, man. That. That call was awesome. And. And I connected with your partner who was, like. It was good. It was a great experience for me and, you know, happy that we were finally able to get on here and have a good little conversation, man.
A
Yeah, bro. What in. Todd? Yeah, he said he was hitting it off with you. He's into the cards. I used to be in the cards back in the day, but I don't know what happened. Like, why I got out of it. I have no idea. I used to go to the shows. I used to meet, like, the players. I remember in Philly one time, I met Jerome Brown and Reggie White at the same card show. And I was a little kid, probably nine. Nine years old. I thought that was the greatest thing. And I had never seen dudes that big before in person.
B
Yeah. You know what I mean?
A
Their legs were, like, just massive.
B
Huge. There's some massive human beings in.
A
Yeah.
B
And NBA, all that.
A
Yeah. And I. I just don't know why I got out of it, but anyway, did you ever get out of the collectibles from being a kid?
B
So when I. So I started when I was eight, like, with, like, Pokemon. And then I found Yu Gi oh. And I was deep into playing the Yu Gi oh game. And then I found magic when I was 11, and I was, like. Hooked us, like, all the way through high school. And then when I went to college, I didn't think anybody would be playing in college. I was like, you know, there's gonna be girls everywhere. You got school. You know, I'm playing football. Like, there's so many other things, like, you can be doing. And when I showed up on campus, bro, like, two weeks in, I found, like, a. Like, 10 people playing Magic in the dorm. And I was pissed because I gave my collection away, but I didn't have. I didn't have much, man. I just gave it to a buddy. I. You know, I grew up with very little, so, you know, it was a. It was all good. But I. I did take a short break while I was in college, and then I got drafted to Seattle, which is where Magic the Gathering was founded. So I got back into it super heavy. Almost immediately.
A
Gotcha. And were there people in the NFL on the team and stuff doing it, too? Like, they were into it?
B
No, no, when I first got into it, bro, like, there were no other players doing anything. Trading cards, man. Like, I remember my second year in the league, bro. My. My son's mother, she was my girlfriend at the time, and my son's mother took my car to the club to take her girls out, right? It was like she had a small car. I had an suv. She took my car. Well, I left my backpack in the car. And, you know Seattle, they like to steal in Seattle. So they hit. They hit like 10 cars. Mine was one of them. They took two backpacks. One backpack had my. My magic decks in it, which was at the time, probably like 20k worth of decks. And then they took my backpack for work, which had my. My Seahawks playbook in it. Now, luckily, it was an iPad.
A
Yeah.
B
So, like, they just deactivated it or whatever. But I was, like, worried about getting in trouble with the team because, like, if you lose your iPad, like, that's a huge fine. They waived it. It was all love. But I tweeted that. I tweeted. I was like, hey, I got my backpack stolen here. If you found it, like, I'm not going to report you to police. I just want. I just want my cards back. And I'll give you season. I'll give you tickets to every home game for like, the rest of the year or some shit like that. And it went viral. It was like it was all over. Like, it was. They put on gq, ESPN covered it. All the sports news outlets cover it. And they were just like, what's Magic the Gathering? What's this NFL player doing playing Magic the Gathering? And, yeah, it was just kind of like a national phenomenon at the time. Like, you know, little viral moment and that. That was the kind of start of it. But since that point in time to now, oh, my God, there's so many guys that are into it, man, in every single sport. You know, Will. Or is it Will Smith? There's a. There's a picture for the Dodgers that his glove is, like a special. Like, he has a magic card in it, and it's like, got, like a special art, a force of will. He's the homie. That shit's cool. You know, Leonard Williams just won the Super Bowl. He's. He's a big magic player. I just spent the whole weekend in Vegas with him playing games and stuff. So, I mean, it's. It's A. So much has changed just in 10 years, man. It's crazy.
A
So. So for those that don't know what is Magic the Gathering and how does it. How does it work? Basically?
B
So Magic the Gathering is the original trading card game. So every trading card game that you know in existence, Yu Gi. Oh, One Piece Pokemon, they all are. You know, they all happen. Because basically the company that owns Wizards of the coast was doing Dungeons and Dragons. They have been doing Dungeons and Dragons for a long time. Then they started Magic the Gathering. So this is the very first card game. It is by far the most complex and interactive and high IQ game in the world. There's. There's nothing more complicated, nothing more interactive. I mean, it is just an incredible. I think, to me, it's the best game ever created. So basically, we both start. We sit down at a table. We both start with a certain amount of life, and then you. You either get your opponent to zero life or you make them draw out their decks. There's a bunch of different ways to win, but it's just like a. It's just, It's a phenomenal game, man. If you ever.
A
Do you have cards that you. You buy packs, like when you're buying baseball cards, you get the certain ones that when you get in a pack, and then that's you. You play with whatever you have access to or is. Everybody has.
B
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's. Dude, there are third. There are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of cards. Like, it is a crazy big pool of cards that you. And they've been releasing cards for more than 30 years. You know, it's. So everybody's deck, like, everybody's deck is pretty much different. Some people's decks are similar, but it's. It's. There's so many cards that very few decks are exactly the same. And basically, yeah, you play with what you have. But like, I can go on tocashcards unlimited.com and buy all the, you know, all the different trading card, like, singles that I want for my deck and pick stuff up. And then you're gonna. You're gonna open up packs and you're gonna put the cards from the packs in your deck. And like, you know, it's just.
A
Gotcha.
B
How you build your deck is. Is all over the place. It's like whatever you have access to, you know?
A
Yeah, I know. My son's 19. I'm sure he. He knows all about this. I'm gonna go. Go talk to him about this after the episode. But how many, how many cards do you play with. In your deck, are you allowed to have a certain amount of cards?
B
Yeah. So there's two, there's a bunch of different formats. Like dude, I'm telling you, magic is just so it can be, it could sound, it's a lot. So there's multiple formats, there's draft, there's like modern, pre modern which are 60 card deck formats. And then the most popular format in the game right now is called Commander where basically you have one card that you build your deck around that that you can play as many times as you want and the rest of the deck is themed towards that Commander. And it's a hundred cards in each deck. In the 60 card formats you start with 20 life. In the 40 card format in commander you start with 40 life. Gotcha. Okay.
A
And then, and then each card has values too like in, in trading.
B
Yeah.
A
And then you can also.
B
I've got to do.
A
Do people also bundle things up in a deck and sell them like at a unit as well as.
B
Yeah, yeah, people sell. People's like people sell pre made decks sometimes. Some, you know, I buy collections and lots like I'll, I've bought like you know, million dollar collections before. I've got a, I've got a, a single card up on Golden Auctions right now. It's a beta artist proof signed Black Lotus. It's the highest graded black signed artist proof black Lotus in the world. The last one, mine's. Mine's the highest graded one a CGC 8 just sold for 350, 000. So I'm hoping that mine goes between, you know, 350 and, and half a mil.
A
And how much did you secure for roughly?
B
What's that?
A
Did you get it just out of a pack or how did you secure that?
B
No, I bought it. I bought it. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When is, what is this, when is this coming out?
A
The next week or couple weeks or so.
B
Okay. Okay. Well it release.
A
Yeah. You don't have to. I didn't know if you got it in a pack, if you bought it or how that.
B
No, no, no, I didn't put. No. So these, you can't. So artists. So what an artist proof is is when, when the artists do their art, right, when they do their original art, the company Wizards of the coast will give them like 50 copies of the card with a blank back. And those are called artist proofs. And these are basically super, super rare. There's only 50 of every single one. So. And, and that's. There's 50 of every single One that got printed and then people lose them. You know, it's like cards come and they go, they get lost, they get up all that good stuff. So there's around 50 artist proof black Lotus. I think there's realistically probably only like 35 or 40 that people actually know about and like have in possession. So mine's the highest graded and. Yeah.
A
And when you've gotten this and you remember the NFTs were big deal a couple years ago, right?
B
Yeah.
A
Like.
B
Yeah.
A
Did that like ever come off like where cards would eventually be tied to on the blockchain?
B
They were. There's so there was some of that, bro, that you know, you know how it was with, with NFTs, bro. Like that was, it was just like so much I. There was so much that, that made sense that could have been really good. But like none of the people that did the NFTs or ran the NFTs did what they were supposed to. Like I had board apes and I never went on a yacht, bro. Like, where were the yacht parties? You know what I'm saying? Like, where were they at?
A
I saw them online. I don't know if they.
B
No, they didn't happen, bro. They didn't happen because every, every single board ape like person was supposed to be. You were supposed to have access to all this, you know, to this massive community.
A
Yeah.
B
And it was cool because like I did. You do meet people and everybody like bonds who has them or whatever. But like you didn't actually get any in person like connection. There was no real like I didn't really feel like I gained anything from owning a board ape.
A
So. Gotcha.
B
The NFT thing, like especially in the trading card realm, people really hated NFTs because it was just like, you know, it was so similar to, to trading cards. And trading cards is like real.
A
Yeah.
B
So yeah, we don't, we don't really talk about NFTs in the trading card world.
A
I didn't know if they tied the tangible cards to.
B
They tried to.
A
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I get it, I get it because it's not.
B
Remember what the NBA did where they did the, the NFT moments? Yeah, they did the NFT moments and those were selling for like thousands and thousands of dollars. It was crazy, bro. Yeah. And now they're worth like nothing. So it's crazy.
A
Somebody gave me. It was called not the Board Apes. It was like the Red Ape. It was like a cartoon and you could buy like part fractions of it or whatever. Somebody gave me one for free. For Just promoting it on my story right up to like 4 grand like in an. In the week that I got it from the guy and I just sold it right away. I was like, I'm not sitting in this smart. You know what I mean?
B
Smart, bro.
A
Smart, bro.
B
That, that, that market was, that was, I mean it was just crazy. It was crazy how much money was, was being spent on it. And then now that stuff is basically worth nothing. Yeah.
A
So. All right, so the football career. So did you, did you play peewee football? Like where did it start football for you?
B
Yeah, so football, dude, I, you know, my dad played in the NFL. My older brother was always the best player in, in the city. And so football had always been part of the bloodline, had always been part of my, you know, my identity. Like when I was in first grade and the teacher asked you what you want to be when you grow up, I was like, I'm going to be an NFL football player. So I always knew, you know, I started off when I was 8 years old and I played every, every pretty much every year for majority of my life. I skipped a couple years. I skipped one season because I was so big that I would have, I was like 9 or 10 and I would have had to play with like the 12 and 13 year olds and, and my mom was like, nah, we're not doing that.
A
So we had that back in the day too. And, and you, if you were over a certain weight, you just couldn't play at all. And then if you were another weight, you had to be what they call it an X man. An X men could only be the offensive lineman. Like they couldn't even play defensive line because they were too heavy.
B
Yeah. So yeah, it was, it was weird. It was weird. But you know, whatever. I mean it all worked out. You know what I'm saying? I figured out obviously.
A
Obviously.
B
Yeah.
A
And so what was it, what was it like? So I played College Football 2 Division 3. I went to high school. I wasn't like a big star or anything. I just loved the game. Right.
B
Free, you got a free education. That's, that's well, but the thing is,
A
is that like what was it like being a guy that like was recruited and had the size and speed to be like, I didn't have it. I'm. I'm five, five, eight on a good day. Five, seven, one. I was 185 when I, when I played in college. I was a, you know, a D back linebacker. But like for, for be having the, the actual physical ability. What I mean People talking about you.
B
Yeah, I mean, dude, I'm. I'm extraordinarily blessed, man. I, I'm. I, you know, I understand that, you know, we're all born with certain blessings, and, you know, I was born with a lot, and I. And I don't take that for granted. You, dad is a total freaking nature, bro. And my mom has really good genes, too. I've got cousins that ran track and stuff, so, like, I just was blessed. I. I hit the genetic lottery and. And. And I worked, but I. But I worked really hard, and. And I loved work, and I loved the. The process. I loved, Loved the journey. I loved every day of grinding and getting better. I still do today, man. I'm still addicted to getting better. It's just in a different realm now, you know, now I'm getting better at basketball or I'm getting better at being a businessman or. Or CEO or whatever, you know, I just. Sports really taught me so much about life and business, man. I'm forever grateful to, you know, my time playing football in college, NFL, high school, all that good stuff.
A
And when. Where did you go to college?
B
I went to ucla.
A
Okay, that's right. We talked about that.
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A
And what was that, like, the transition from high school to college? Because I remember for even Division 3, it was like a business. It wasn't fun anymore for me,
B
dude. I just, you know, I played immediately, and I was just so locked. I was so locked in. In college, bro. I skipped a lot of parties in college. I skipped a lot of parties in college, man. I just wanted to get better. And I, I, you know, I played my freshman year. I was freshman, all PAC 12 and stuff. So, like, you know, the transition was. Was. Was what? Didn't seem like anything, bro. Like, I just. I don't know, man. I think, you know, I've been blessed to be, like, a very. Have a pretty sharp focus. So, like, things, you know, things are tough at times, but, like, I just never let it faze me. I think the toughest part for me when I got to UCLA was the fact that we were trash and. And we lost a bunch of games, and I was pissed because in high school, I'd only ever lost three games in my whole high school career. So I was just like, this is not it, you know, And I thought about transferring the first couple years, but I stuck it through because we had such a great group of guys, and, you know, obviously I didn't want to leave Cali, bro. You know, I got to stay home, which was. Which Was incredible.
A
Yeah. And then, and then as the. Your final year goes in and you come into the draft, we just did, you know, had the NFL draft recently.
B
Yeah.
A
You find an agent through some, I guess a connection. You get how does that all work? And then the projection of like, where are you going to go? And what was that, like, that process?
B
Uh, dude, that would, that process was a little bit frustrating for me. My agent was like, I'm not gonna lie, somebody fed, fed me to an agent that was like a nobody. So whenever I told like people like GMs, my. My agent's name, none of them knew who he was. It was really bad. He had like. It was. He ended up getting sued by like a million people. It was just. It. That was kind of a nightmare for me when I first got into the league. And then, you know, that affected like my draft stock because the communicate like, it's just a lot of things, bro. So the draft process was a little bit tougher for me. You know, I was projected go like second or third round. I ended up being the first pick in the fourth round. And that, that, that was really tough for me, man, because like, you know, my whole. I'm just like, I'm such a goal oriented person. So like, it was, to me, it was like first round or nothing, you know, and, and I fell to the fourth. And that was just devastating to me. But, you know, it was what it was. I had to hit the ground rolling and you know, I got drafted to the, to the super bowl champions at the time. And dude, that defense was incredible, man. The Seattle Seahawks defense, when I got there was packed full of. I mean, God, was.
A
Was Dan Quinn there then?
B
Dq. Dq? Yeah. DQ drafted me, bro. DQ was my guy. It was Dan Quinn. Obviously. Pete was the head coach. You know, we. On offense, we had Russell, we had Marshawn, we had Russell Okun, we had Max Unger people may not know about. He was all pro safety. We had, we had Doug Baldwin, we had. Dude, we had just. We had players, bro. That's just offense. And then on defense, bro. Cliff Averill, Michael Bennett, Brandon Mebane, Bruce Irving, Wagner there. Then Bobby Widener, K.J. wright, Richard Sherman, uh, uh, uh, Earl Thomas, Cam Chancellor. It was just. It was crazy, bro. It was. It was crazy to be a part of. Because every single guy on that defense was a starter on any other team in the league and was like a top, top five or top ten player at their position. It was just like, dude. And so when I got there, it was like, bro, if I'M not perfect. Like if I don't do everything like just like pristine, I don't practice the right way, I don't eat the right way, I don't show up the right way, I don't act the right way, bro. Like it just, it wasn't going to be what you wanted. That was, that was probably the toughest thing was coming into a defense. Like that was, yeah, it was incredible to be surrounded and learn from those guys. But it was tough to get on the field, bro. We had dogs, man.
A
And how do they treat you when you come in? Like as a rookie, what is it
B
like, you know, you know what I mean?
A
Like do they break you in or what?
B
Yes. Yeah, they, they, yeah, yeah. And you know, I think, you know, I had a chip on my shoulder and I also, I don't know if you knew this about me but, but I'm mixed. You know, my dad, my dad's half black and my mom's half Creole and so, you know, I grew up with black culture but like obviously when you look at me, right, you don't see a black man. And so, you know, D line is, there's a lot, a lot of great, you know, there's a lot of black greatness in the, in the D line room typically. So when I got in there like they like to tease me and mess with me and, and I was, I was hot headed young kid, man. I really was. And, and they knew how to mess with me. And there's one story I'll tell you that was, was amazing. And mind you, those guys are, I'm forever grateful to those like Mike B. And Cliff and me, Bane. Those guys took me under the wing and taught me a lot of stuff. So I love them to death. They're like big brothers to me. But when I got to league, I bought a G wagon, right? It's my dream car. Dumbest purchase ever. I should have bought a house. So stupid. But, but I bought a G wagon. I love my G wagon. All right, so you know, they're talking trash about like what they're going to do to the rookies and like, I'm going to take your car. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And I was like, guys, you could do whatever you want but don't touch my car. And when I said that right there, I, they, they, they were like, it's done. You've, you wrote your sentence like you're done for, right? So I come out of practice one day and, and like My key. I didn't notice my key. I was like, oh, maybe I just left my key in the car, right? My key's not in my locker. I'm like, maybe I just left my key in the car, right? I come outside, my car is gone. And the first person to walk out. The first person to walk out is Cliff. And Cliff was the one. I knew. I. Like, I don't know why I knew, but I knew it was Cliff. And I go up to him. I'm like, where's my car at? Give me that. And he was like, who? You know, he's like, who the. Who are you talking to? Blah, blah, blah. And we're going back and forth, and he looks at me and goes. He goes, cassius, I will light your car on fire and blow that up and buy you a new one, bro. When he told me that, bro, I shut up. I was like, what am I supposed to say? He was making so much money. He was like, dude, I'm gonna do whatever I want to your car. I'll just buy you a new one.
A
And that's what they wanted out of you anyway. They wanted that reaction.
B
They did. They wanted that reaction. And I gave it to him like. Like a young idiot. But, dude, I missed those times, bro. That was such a special time, bro.
A
Yeah, man. You know, Dan Quinn played at Salisbury.
B
Oh, DQ is such a great dude, too, man.
A
And he was there, I think, two or three years before I got. I got there.
B
Okay.
A
We have a lot of mutual friends. I never met him before, but. But, yeah, it was.
B
You get the chance. He's awesome.
A
Yeah. Yeah. Small. Small school here he played at. And he went on to do great things in the NFL, so.
B
Sure did.
A
Yeah. So, okay, so then you get out of playing and you go into entrepreneurship. Now, this is a transition that a lot of athletes have to make. And then you've played football for so long, you identify with what you did. Did you. Did you feel like a period of time after football where you lost your identity a little bit? Could you identify with football so much?
B
Never.
A
No. So that's huge.
B
Never. Never. I. I'll always be a football player. And, you know, that means more than. Than just, like, my ability on the field. It's. It's the things. The lessons I learned, the mentality, just all of those. Those types of things. And, you know, I was. I was. I was fortunate to. Where, you know, guys, like, might be in. Cliff, like, always told me, like, you know, to be prepared for what comes next, you know, because this stuff' so I had guys who made me aware of that. And you know, I had a year where I played for three teams in one year was Covid year. And it was just like I was, after that year, I was like, dude, you know, who knows how long this thing is going to last? So I had always had a dream of starting a trading card shop and I had been saving up, I had been hoarding a bunch of sealed product for like basically my entire career. So I ended up starting my, my business at the end of, basically when I came home for my second to last season, we had started the business and I did a huge PR tour and I was still in the league. So I was able to utilize and leverage that. And that was huge for me, man. I'm starting a business while still playing. And then my last year I ran the bit so I would be at practice from like, you know, I'd be at the facilities from like 6 in the morning until like 4 or 5 at night. And then I'd be at home taking meetings until I went to sleep. And you know, that just taught me so much. And you know, it really allowed me to, to find a new identity. Before, like, my time in the league was over. Now losing the game was incredibly tough. Not, not, not, you know, the NFL, at some point, they're done with you. And when, you know, you can still play and still play at a high level like, that is very hard. Like right now, bro, I go out there and, and go crazy, bro. Like, I'm still super strong, super fast, but at some point in time, you know, for certain guys, like, you know, it's just all circumstantial. The league, the league forgets about you and they move on. And that was probably the toughest part for me was just losing the game, not being in those locker rooms anymore. Man, the one thing I miss the most is the locker room.
A
Yeah.
B
You know, being surrounded by just so much excellence, like, and the standard of performance and the standard of, of, of, of what the expectation was, was so high. And you just don't get that in the regular world, bro. You don't. I mean, you know, you'll be lucky to be in an organization that, that, that, that demands that level of, of excellence. But there's very few places in the world that you can be surrounded by that many excellent people. So that's what I miss most.
A
And how do you counteract that though? Going into the world and not. And missing that and having that support and that encouragement and that, you know, accountability.
B
Friends, good friends, you know, make sure you. You nourish the. The friendships that you have. The guys who. The guys who encourage you to be better, if you're doing something you're not supposed to, they're on your ass. Like, I make friends who are trying to be as great as I'm trying to be and who are going to push me and tell me the truth. You know, I just. I tried to surround myself with people like that. Most of them are. Are not in the end of, like, it's like, it's. It's weird because when guys leave the NFL, everybody kind of goes their separ. You know, and then you might reconnect later on, and you always have those connections with guys. But it's very hard to stay super connected to guys because we all just go to different places. So unless somebody ends up in Woodland Hills, California, you know what I mean? That I was close to. It can be tough. So I just tried to. I just. I just made over time I really spent. I spent a lot of energy on really quality friendships. And I'm fortunate to have found a lot in the business world other, you know, motivated and hungry and disciplined guys that, That I was able to, you know, create relationships with. And that was. That's kind of how I've replaced that feeling. But there's. There's nothing like the locker room. I will never. I'll never. I'll never be in a place where I feel like the. Like, I have. I've replaced that. There is just no replacing.
A
Yeah. Yeah. The only. The only comparison I had was when I was in the mortgage business, where I first got in, we had a. It was like a cube farm. It was like a boiler farm room. Right.
B
Okay.
A
And it's. I got older. It was just like a locker room. You know, we were crushing it in the mortgage business, but we were hanging out, goofing off and all that.
B
Right.
A
But then after that, like, I started working from home and I was, like, lonely.
B
So.
A
It's important for entrepreneurs to have, like, community, man. It's. It's imperative. I'm doing my best to, you know, provide that for people because I. It's, you know, I live at this house here in Maryland, and, you know, there's hardly anybody around here in. In person, you know, so. Yeah, I try to travel as much as I can to be around great people, and they're doing great.
B
So.
A
But I. I feel that. Okay, so when you go right now on your daily life, like, what does your daily life look like? Are you going to shows? Are you like what, what does it look like to run that business?
B
So, I mean, we go to shows like last weekend. So last week I. Last week I was in Vegas. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. So Tuesday and Wednesday, the bitcoin conference. At the Bitcoin conference, Kraken was having a celebrity Magic the Gathering tournament. I went out there for that, did content creation, brought my assistant with me and played in the tournament. Then I came back, spent a day at home. Every day's always got to work out. Every day's got some sort of exercise. Whether I'm hooping or lifting, I'm always creating content. I'm always on calls, making deals, trying to find collections to buy, you know, just, just, oh, you know, you know how it is as an entrepreneur. You're always on the phone. So that, that's meetings, you know, I've got my podcast, the unlimited podcast. You know, I might have a couple episodes of that. I filmed the. Thursday, I filmed the podcast with Ken golden from Golden Auctions. And then I went back to, to Vegas. On Friday, I hosted a. So I went, I went straight to the show. I did some content at the show. Then I went and I was hosting, I was hosting a showcase of the largest Magic the Gathering, the largest collection of original Magic the Gathering art in the world. And the owner of the collection basically has brought me on to help him sell the collection, helps promote the collection. So I hosted that event on Friday night and then woke up the next day, went to the show, created content, kiss babies, take pictures, you know, sign autographs, just like interact with the community and interact with all the people who have been supporting me and my business, make a couple of deals. And then I flew back home and, and yeah, man, I mean, that's, that's kind of like, that's what last week looks like. And that's, that's a crazier week. Typically I'm more like regimented, you know, wake up, wake up, take my son to school. I'm a full time dad, you know, so, so what it sounds like, bro?
A
It sounds like to me, it doesn't seem like it's not work to you, right? You know, loving it and you love this. You're being able to hustle, make some money too from it.
B
I love making money, bro. Absolutely.
A
And what's the vision from here with this? Like, you know, are you, are you continuing to build a brand and be known for this or what? What is it?
B
Yeah, yeah, I want to be, I want to be the guy. I want to be the go to guy. For high end Magic the Gathering and just trading cards in general. My, my aim for my company, Cash Cards Unlimited, is to take over the space. To take over, you know, to basically replace some of the companies. You know, there's competitors out there and I'll say their name, I don't care. I have no shame. I want, I want to beat out Car Kingdom. I want to beat out Cool Stuff Inc. There's a couple of other websites out there that are semi similar to mine. I just, I want to build an amazing business in the trading card space. I always want to be in the trading card space. I'm very passionate about it and my vision is to be the biggest and the best man. And you know, that takes time, but I'm working on it every day. And then, you know, I have other businesses that I have in development, man. I'm, I'm very passionate about plants. So I'm kind of exploring that part of my brand and.
A
Wait a minute.
B
House plants, bro. House plants, man. I, I mean I've got over 200 plants in my house. I collect a lot of the, the rarer ones and you know, wait a
A
minute, where did that come from?
B
Dude, I've been so I've been doing, I've been doing it for, for like two years. I've had a bunch of plants in my house recently. In the last six months, it's gotten a little bit out of control. And then when I started posting about it on socials, bro, people, I had no idea how crazy the plant community was. But they have been. Well, dude, they have been. I do. And you know what the crazy part, the name of my brand in the plant. The name of my brand that I'm building is called Jungle Daddy la. It is, it is. I like that. And I like that. Yeah.
A
You could tell the difference when you walk in a house that has a lot of plants versus not you breathing.
B
You can tell the air is so clean in my house, man. And it's like there's life and it just, it brings like, it. Plants really bring a space together in a way that like you just really like other things just can't, man. I love plants. I love home design, man. So that's kind of what. That's a new thing that I'm exploring and learning about right now. You know, I believe that you got to do a lot of R and D before you, you know, develop a real business. But I'm very passionate about it and so I know I'll be successful in it, man, you know?
A
Yeah. So we Got something. Is it called an English ivy? It's something that's really good. Filter okay. In the house.
B
Yeah, dude. Spider plants are amazing. English I. There's a lot. There's a lot of really good.
A
I don't know.
B
Pothos are really good for cleaning out the air, bro. There's. I mean, there's so many nice, beautiful house plants.
A
This one's green, but it has, like, purple in the leaf. You've seen them before? I'll have to show you.
B
Yeah, you have to send me a picture. I'm not. Yeah, there's. Yeah, yeah, I saw it online, and
A
it said that it's great for filtering. That's the air in the house. Of course. We believe everything we see online. So my wife bought some.
B
So she bought some, dude. Yeah. I'll say. If you want to clean up the air at the crib, bro. I'll send you guys some plans, man. Just hit me up.
A
Okay, I'm down. I'm down.
B
I got you. I got.
A
All right, well, where can people go deeper to check out the. The collectibles and. And then if you have somewhere for them to go for the plants, too. Wherever you. Whatever you got. Where can they go?
B
Yeah, the. The plant. The plant brand. The plant brand's not quite ready, but go. Follow me on all socials. Cassius Marsh on. On Instagram and Tick Tock. I also have a YouTube channel where I've been posting as well. As far as my company, Cash Cards Unlimited. If you're ever looking to buy, sell trading cards. We buy massive collections all the time, and we have an amazing inventory of trading cards. Pokemon magic the gathering. One piece sports cards, memorabilia. You can go to cashcardsunlimited.com or you can go to one of our two retail spots. We have one in Thousand Oaks, California, and one in Woodland Hills, California. We're also streaming live on Tick Tock on three different channels. Everything. Cash Cards Unlimited. If you need help in the trading card space, I'm your guy.
A
Love it, man. Well, hey, I appreciate the friendship that we have now, and I appreciate you spending time with me on the show today and look forward to doing more with you, man.
B
Absolutely, brother. I appreciate you having me on. It's an honor.
A
All right, man. My pleasure. Hang tight while I wrap this up, folks. That's this episode of the Woody Made Up Show. Make sure you hit the subscribe follow button at the top of your favorite podcast platform and keep coming back. Until next time, that was Cassius Marsh. Oh, by the way, before I wrap this up, real quick. What do you. I forgot to ask you the beginning of the show. What are you made of? Like, what would the answer to that question be? What are you made of?
B
What am I made of? Oof. What am I made of? That's a good question.
A
That comes to your mind, like, what
B
am I made of? My. In my mind, I'm a Saiyan. You ever. You've seen Dragon Ball Z?
A
Yeah. Yeah. My son loves that. He talks about it.
B
I'm a saying, okay. My. My power. My powers are unlimited. If I keep working hard, I can grow every single day. That's. That's. That's what I would say.
A
I'm glad I remember to ask you that question. All right.
B
That's a good one. That's a great question, bro. I might take that one from you. I ain't gonna lie.
A
Feel free, man.
B
All right, sir.
A
Have a good one.
B
All right. Okay. Yes, sir. Yep.
Podcast: What Are You Made Of?
Host: Mike "C-Roc" Ciorrocco
Guest: Cassius Marsh
Air Date: May 13, 2026
In this wide-ranging episode, former NFL player Cassius Marsh joins Mike "C-Roc" Ciorrocco to share his journey from the gridiron to building a business empire in the trading card and collectibles industry. Marsh delves into his lifelong passion for card games, the personal and professional transitions after football, the grit required in both sports and entrepreneurship, and even his unexpected love for houseplants. The conversation offers a blend of inspirational life lessons, entrepreneurship insight, candid stories from the NFL, and the nitty-gritty of building a brand around what you love.
“I found Magic when I was 11, and I was like… hooked all the way through high school.” (01:12, Cassius Marsh)
Magic in the Pro Sports World:
Magic: The Gathering Explained
“I’ve bought million-dollar collections before. I’ve got a card up on Golden Auctions right now.” (07:09, Cassius Marsh)
Card Values & Trading
NFTs & Digital Collectibles
“People really hated NFTs because it was just like…it was so similar to trading cards and trading cards is like real.” (09:56, Cassius Marsh)
Roots in Football:
Physical/Genetic Advantage and Drive:
“I just loved the…the process. I loved every day of grinding and getting better. I still do today, man.” (13:35, Cassius Marsh)
Collegiate Path & NFL Entry:
Life as an NFL Rookie: Challenges & Hazing
“If I’m not perfect.…it wasn’t going to be what you wanted. That was probably the toughest thing was coming into a defense like that.” (17:46, Cassius Marsh)
Entrepreneurship After Football:
Hardest Part of Leaving Football:
“There’s very few places in the world that you can be surrounded by that many excellent people. So that’s what I miss most.” (23:05)
Coping Without the Team Dynamic:
“I love making money, bro. Absolutely.” (28:05, Cassius Marsh)
On Life & Growth:
“In my mind, I’m a Saiyan… My powers are unlimited. If I keep working hard, I can grow every single day.” (32:45, Cassius Marsh)
On Trading vs. NFTs:
“People really hated NFTs because…trading cards is like real.” (09:56, Cassius Marsh)
On Locker Room Camaraderie:
“There’s very few places in the world that you can be surrounded by that many excellent people. So that’s what I miss most.” (23:05)
On Focusing on Self-Development:
“I’m still addicted to getting better. It’s just in a different realm now…CEO or whatever, you know.” (13:35)
Cassius Marsh’s journey showcases resilience, adaptability, and following authentic passions. Whether on the field, at the card table, or tending to his ever-growing plant collection, Marsh embodies constant growth—“a Saiyan” always striving for the next level.
“If I keep working hard, I can grow every single day.” (32:56, Cassius Marsh)
For anyone interested in entrepreneurship, collectibles, personal evolution—or just some hilarious NFL locker room stories—this episode is an inspiring listen.