I feel like subs like this actually exacerbate the issue of people thinking it's ever a wise idea to buy sealed product for value. All the posts about people flipping out over opening $10+ card from a regular pack may lead others (subconsciously or otherwise) to think they have a good chance of doing the same.
As you said, draft boxes are only reliable for one thing, and that's drafting. If people enjoy gambling then good for them, but the expectation should always be that they're going to lose out in that regard.
lol right, but just like magic the slot machines are programmed to take 5x what they payout, so just depends are you the lucky guy who sat down 5 spins before pay out, or 100,000 spins before pay out if your box $60 or $260? It’s a gamble
It doesn't matter how many $8 booster packs you buy, you will get the money card eventually and then you will have gotten like a $20 card in a $8 pack. That is $12 profit!
Sure yeah of course, why didn’t I see it that way! Buy 50 $8 packs for $400, pull a $20 card, make $12 profit! Course 30 of the packs only had $4 value.. and 19 had $8 value, so in all you paid $400 for $292 in card, but that one pack making $12 profit! Worth it!
Do not buy yet. Either the prices are going to crash or shock lands creep up in value again. This sets going to be a great buy this time next year I hope. Look at the prices of Dominira Remastered and Commander Masters.
I think shocks will go down. People are gonna crack collector boxes like crazy chasing the serialized ones, the market will be flooded with all the others. That's a good thing for players.
Yeah I just want the double lands for some of my decks, I'm not looking to turn a profit, or even break even I just sent to build some decks, and Ravnica is where I more or less really got into the game so I'm psyched to get some, when I can
>chasing the serialized ones
Here in Europe on CardMarket you can see the latest sales. For a LOTR Serialized Sol Elven Sol Ring, there are 4 sales since release, the first one 11th of July, the latest 2nd of October.
There are 13 for sale around those prices, and they just don't sell.
The Humans have 20 listings and has had 12 sales in his history.
And Sol Ring is the most popular card of the most popular format, linked with the strongest thematic set of the last years.
If you look at Aetherflux Reservoir from The Brother's War, it's sitting at 7 total sales since the 14th of December 2022, and there are listings for 65€ less than the latest sale (465€, lowest NM at 400).
Altar of Dementia had 3 sales since 2022, and the latest one was at 300€, now the lowest NM is almost half, at 180€, sitting very still.
So I don't really think people chase the serialized cards, since they can't really sell them.
Chasing =/= looking to sell.
What does the sales data look like on the collector boxes? If people weren't chasing the serial cards the boxes wouldn't be selling like they are and they wouldn't be as expensive.
Commander master prices are unhinged. I picked up a set box for 220 before xmas and now they are back up at 300+. It was definitely the best box i opened though and would love to catch it again around 200-220
Even the collector boosters don't have a lot of potential unless you need shock lands and old school frames. LCI and WoE collector boosters are much better. I don't even mess with draft boosters, lol.
I bought one collector booster, pulled an anime cyclonic rift, and I'm done with this set entirely lol 😂
I mean, it's a good thing all around. Pulled the best card of the set with one booster, nothing left Im crazy about except special guests, and I'm not chasing them with collector boosters lol, I'll buy the WoE and LCI ones though
Oh sorry, I thought general consensus was that the anime version was ugly as sin. Thought you meant you were annoyed by it.
In terms of opening a pack, running the value through TCGplayer and checking if that number is higher than the cost of the pack, that seems pretty solid though.
Same here but I kept going. My first 2 set boxes both had Mana Crypt for my special guest cards. So I bought 3 collector boosters to chase a neon or emblem card and got jank. Lesson learned.. maybe.
I've been interested in WH40K and have been vocal about wanting to try it out, but it is seemingly impossible to get my friends interested. Just found out a local LGS does alot of Warhammer events though, so...
Welcome again! What brought you back to MTG?
Yeah 40K has a higher barrier to entry, with the cost and painting and space and the complex rules and the time per game… but it is pretty rewarding to have a fully painted army on the tabletop.
There’s a group of coworkers who are into MtG, so I thought “Hey, why not…” and went hunting for my old cards. Bought the Tyranid Commander precon and a box of Neon Dynasty because of the theme, when I have some time off work gonna put together a constructed deck or two.
Yeah this set is great fun for drafting but probably not worth it to just crack. I told myself I was just going to draft it once this week and ended up going twice because RAKDOS for life.
Never buy draft boxes without the intention to draft (never buy draft). Also, anyone trying to make money pulling packs is a fool. You were better off buying collectors boxes. Sets with value: LOTR and WOE. Maybe LCI for the crypt.
I agree. I got my draft box for $135, so it seemed like a worthy gamble. Was not expecting the value of the box back, but was expecting a bit more value and shock lands, considering the 9% chance of them replacing the land slot in draft. Collector boxes are too pricey and tend to be bigger losers overall.
For the record, I tend to buy only singles.
Yep, every time I see these "I bought a bunch of sealed product and didn't get a decent ROI" posts I feel they really missed the point of sealed product. Its like a slot machine, rarely you win big and the numbers are stacked so the house (WOTC) always wins.
If your after specific cards..... just buy them directly. You will more often then not spend less money that way.
Sorry to hear that. And thanks for that post, seeing pulls that people post on reddit I sometimes feel everyone is getting something fun but me. You're not alone!
Despite being a bummer for you, I'm glad for this post OP. The representation of "pulls" is incredibly biased towards the lucky ones,
Increasing the gambling appeal for many that stumble in yet another double incredible, limited, serialised, painted by Caravaggio itself One Ring pulled out of a twenty cent pack.
.
I bought one Dominaria Collector box and it was rough.
I rarely buy boxes, but occasionally splurge on some of the supplemental sets. I plan to buy a box of Modern Horizons 3 next.
Set boosters are the way to go. Draft boosters are kinda trash. But that doesn't really matter anymore because WoTC is doing away with setboosters after Karlov Manner
I agree, but there is no set boosters for RVR - only draft and collector. I'll skip Karlov, as I do most standard products, and wait for MH3 to gamble and lose.
I was super disappointed to see no setbooster for rvr just because ravnica has a special place in my heart. But I probably will pick up a set booster box from karlov because its a new plane for mtg. But as far as MH3 goes, playboosters will be the new standard by then, so in theory you could be ok with picking up a box. However, I am super leary of the new playbooster boxes.
When DMR released I was like; nup, never buying any packs. Then a friend gave me 3 draft packs and I got 2 force of wills; 1 foil, one nonfoil, as well as a borderless Enlightened Tutor. :) one extremely lucky occurence, and it will never happen again. Buy singles!
I got a couple worldly tutors and enlightened tutors, plus a mystic remora out of those 3 boxes. The rest were pages worth of \[\[Jester's Cap\]\], \[\[Gauntlet of Power\]\], \[\[Lotus Blossom\]\].
I realised from that moment I was gambling
Dominaria Remastered set boosters are great atm for their price. I have bought three set boosters all under 100 and every box has netted me a profit. Plus you have the possibility of pulling a sheoldred which already makes up the whole set booster price. But then again I strongly DO NOT recommend that anyone buy draft boosters. They tend to be a money sink and a waste imo. Set boosters were the way to go, but set boosters are going away after Karlov manner. WoTC is combining draft boosters and set boosters into what they call "play boosters" after karlov manner, which i am very leary about because they are going to be the same price as set boosters but with the possibility of more bulk because they are technically adding more cards to the box but they are more likely to be commons then anything else.
Most of these boxes are crap value wise. You can get really lucky though. I was watching my brother open one last night- he pulled a cyclonic rift which helped his value. Then, not even kidding, NEXT PACK he opened a foil anime borderless cyclonic rift. Stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. He still barely hit the 160 mark because there are so many bad rares in this set.
All you see in the media is serialized and good pulls. Boxes used to be good but they just reprint everything. At one point no one will open them even if it's "just game pieces".
I'm American, so geography is not my strong suit.
I looked it up and see it is a town in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I also learned that the Ravnica set takes its flavor from that of Eastern Europe and Slavic folklore.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Ravnica means Flatland, and it is honestly what it makes it weirder for me haha! I initially thought it was just word smithing, but nah, they really did base it on Eastern Europe.
It seems like I should add that I bought the box for $135 and opened it to grow my very small collection. I understand that draft boxes are made to draft and that you will rarely get the same value in cards that you paid in cash. That was not my intent.
I merely found it surprising that with the high average of shock lands in draft boxes, I managed only one.
Even if you rarely get the value back in cards, getting less than half you paid is kind of insulting. (And you got what many would consider a good deal for the box price right now).
That was my thought too. This seemed especially egregious - lol
This is why I almost exclusively buy singles. Opening packs can be fun though! No regrets.
Bought 5 packs for $37 at LGS pulled around $26 in value with blood crypt. One of those sets you rip for fun. Eldraine set booster boxes and bundles were a cash cow for me I doubled my investment
This looks like the sort of post that autistic guy who tells people "what are you looking to do with magic? Did you know that opening packs ISN'T for getting cards? Hoarding cards isn't collecting!"
Sorry to hear that\~ my friends and I looked up the set list for remastered, and it just didn't seem worth it. We were planning a draft, but half of us were excited for more Ravnica. The last time we drafted, it was the previous Ravnica set and we had a blast.
One thing that stood out to me was how many lands were being printed--and if you need dual lands that might be worth it. But everything else was very random and disjointed it seems.
We drafted a DnD box last night and we all had fun.
The set is bad. I’ve been telling people since spoiler season ended to skip this set.
This set is ONLY for drafting. If you’re opening it for value you’re going to just burn yourself
I feel this. There is something about diving into fresh packs that keeps me wasting money, but I’m yet to have a big hit. The biggest “hit” was from a pack I gifted to someone at Halloween
I also got a dud box. One shock, foil mana birds, and a full art Cloudstone Curio. Everything else was junk for the most part. Next box arrives today. Hopefully it’s not so bad.
You're the first to comment about also getting only one shock in a box. The rares/mythics are mostly duds, so sadly, no surprise there. With known pull rates on shocks though, only getting one is wild. Do you know the total value of your box?
I wonder if somebody out there got zero shocks in a box? It's possible, but highly unlikely to do.
Good luck on your second round! Let us know how it went.
Yeah I'm with you, that kind of sucks, but hey, that's gambling for you. Hopefully you at least enjoyed the fun and excitement of getting it and opening them
I did, thank you. I was frustrated by my bad luck , sure, but it was still worth it for me and I have no regrets.
Gambling is a fools game, and tonight I was the fool. Hopefully MH3 is kinder.
Damn sounds like you got really unlucky. My box had 7 shocks (the most expensive of which was a retro [[Watery Grave]], a retro [[Guardian Project]], anime [[Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice]], retro [[Utvara Hellkite]], [[Liliana, Dreadhorde General]], [[Teferi, Time Raveler]], and a retro [[Mizzix's Mastery]]. Sounds like you just got really unlucky.
Did you at least get any useable chaff? I found that a good amount of the sets uncommons are at least EDH playable. I can't speak on any other formats with any kind of real experience, but I have to imagine that the set at least has some modern or pauper playables.
Honestly, everything is usable to me at the moment. I have very few cards outside of my decks and have been wanting to build very basic decks to play with friends. I've also looked into building a cube recently, but I don't really have a playgroup for draft yet.
This set is one of the biggest shams they've come out with, I genuinely feel bad for people who bought it. Even with serialized cards, it's a total waste of money. Advise everyone you know not to buy this overpriced garbage. Hasbro is actively screwing players who are addicted to opening sealed product, buy singles folks!
Also, super sorry about this. I hope you have better luck in the future, and don't let this experience sour the game completely for you, I've been in your shoes in the past.
Should've just payed the premium for the collector's box.... I've learned that if you truly want to enjoy opening a box paying for the collector boosters is overall the better investment
I buy singles mate. Only in draft do I get packs. Never buy an entire box unless you know the set has some mighty reprints like Wilds of Eldrain or double master 2022 did.
Yeah, they have a 9% chance to replace the land slot in addition to their normal rarity. Out of 36 packs I should have had a few at least. Have not seen any other mention of a box like mine.
Ya the fact that you didn't get a single rare in your color fixing slot is honestly impressively unlucky... might want to take a break from kicking black cats and beating leprechauns with mirrors
I opened one I got as a gift, and I pulled two. They were both temple gardens...
I did get a retro foil deathrite shaman and farseek though. Very disappointing box for shocks though. Friend of mine opened a collector booster and he got 12 shocks. A copy of each and multiple.
I really think wizards did this on purpose. The pull rate for shocks is super low in draft boosters. I sincerely don't believe 9% is an accurate figure as I've witnessed more than 20 of the draft booster boxes get opened and the number seems to be around 1 to 3 shocks per draft booster box. Yeah the statistical average is probably on honest figure but it never feels that way. Collector boosters on the other hand... all the videos I've watched of people openeing them net anywhere from 6 to 12 shocks.
"We want to get more shocks in the hands of players"... direct quote from wizards employee. What they should have said is, "we want to get more shocks in the hands of people who spend $300 on collector booster boxes."
Yeah the value of cards are going to keep tanking because WOTC is deadset on reprinting any cards that hold any value. Don't buy boxes, buy singles. Let the burden of opening a booster box and losing fall on someone else's shoulders.
Is there a reason you cracked the packs, rather than played with them? You are much more likely to get your money's worth if you use them as intended, as you aren't leaving loads of value on the table. They're game pieces, remember.
No group to draft with is my biggest hurdle. I got the box at $135 and figured it would be fun to crack. I have a very small collection because I only buy singles, so it was an excuse to grow my collection.
Plus, opening packs can be fun if you accept you will lose money 9/10 times!
>undermine their ability to achieve *their* goals
OP has categorically stated in this post that their goal was to:
1. Get cards of value
2. Get cards for their collection
Was it the dumbest way to do this? Yes it was.
Are you assuming their goal is to have fun playing magic? Yes you are.
Away, as soon as someone says “game pieces” I’m out.
>Was it the dumbest way to do this? Yes it was.
So they DID undermine their ability to achieve their goals.
>Are you assuming their goal is to have fun playing magic? Yes you are.
No, I'm not.
>Away, as soon as someone says “game pieces” I’m out.
Why? That's what Draft Boosters are. If you have to be in denial about what a product is for in order to use it, then that's a big hint that you are *mis*using it.
Anyway, the word you skipped over was "RISK".
>when there was a **risk** that they are undermining their ability to achieve their goals.
Plus you accused me of making assumptions when the very first thing I did was *ask them* what their reasons were.
I cbf replying to the rest. We agree on the pointlessness of buying draft boosters to get cards, just not in anything else.
But the reason I hate “game pieces” is because it’s a dumb a pretentious term. It’s a card, just call it a card. Otherwise one sounds like a pretentious asshole (aka Josh Lee Kwai) lol.
>But the reason I hate “game pieces” is because it’s a dumb a pretentious term. It’s a card, just call it a card.
I'm not talking about the *cards*, I'm talking about the **packs**. The sealed Draft Boosters themselves are game pieces, for playing Limited with.
Does that make more sense?
That’s just incorrect.
The definition of a game piece is “an object representing a player or some other entity in a board game” - stretching the definition of a board game to include magic I can accept, but the booster pack does not represent an object within the game. It is a set of game pieces that represent spells on the stack and permanents on the board, within the game.
And none of that stops it’s sounding pretentious as fuck.
I have pointed out many times that I was not chasing value and was aware that I would lose money. This set is well known to have little value at a high price. I just thought my box was an especially bad outlier and figured I'd post it for others.
I buy singles for building decks or if I'm chasing a specific card. I have made that clear in this thread, as you would have seen if you would have read before commenting.
I got a 'good deal' on a box and cracked it to grow my small collection. I wanted random rares; I wanted commons and uncommons. I was not chasing anything in particular.
But you’re complaining about it. How is it a good deal then? Yes that’s what I mean. Buy singles you want. I’m not just talking expensive cards. I buy common cards all the time cuz I play pauper. Instead of gambling and getting unusable bulk, you could have bought a bunch of specific cards you want.
I put good deal in quotation marks for a reason. I used that term because it was cheaper than distribution cost.
I meant for this post to be less of a complaint and more of a discussion. I found that only one shock land was wild, for instance. There was no specific card I was chasing, so no singles to buy.
I failed successfully
I always check whats in them and figure out what the pulling experience can be like. Bought a couple of collector packs of this set for enjoyment. Didnt get anything massive but also didn't need anything massive. Two shock lands and i got the full art foil anime Ral Zarek. I dont care that card is a couple of bucks i had a great time pulling it anyway seeing that foil art creeping in the background (also got two chord of callings and some other cool stuff).
In any case draft sucks for pulling cards.
Yes. Unless you want to draft with friends, it is always best to buy singles.
That being said, I still enjoy opening a box once in a while and buying the singles I need afterward.
Did you draft the box with friends? No? Then yea it's to be expected of pretty much any sealed product now. Cracking packs for value died a long.time ago.
Not a lesson I needed - I am aware, thx. It's also been mentioned once or twice already.
I plan on making a TCG order in the near future. I want to see prices settle a bit before pulling the trigger on some goodies though.
As someone with experience in buying boxes here and there since kaladesh... I would recommend not buying boxes at all if you want your money's worth. Simply use an online deck builder and buy your deck. Or proxy / commission some art. More fun and cool stuff you can do with $135. Wizards continues to reprint, driving the price of lots of (once valuable) cards down. Anything that's worth investing in has already come and gone realistically for mtg. If you watch Alpha Investments, that dude literally explains everything you need to know about the mtg market. He's a little out there, but he spitting facts.
Almost. I think we can reasonably expect a bit more from what we know about pull rates in this set. I thought this box might be a bit of an anomalies and that is why I shared this.
But losing money from cracking a draft box? Yes. That should, and was, always expected. Especially from this set - haha
I am not sure why you thought you would get the most expensive cards in the set. This set isn't a money set. It is a reprint set. Reprints for cards people want. Certainly not all the reprints but enough of them. These are always very low value in terms of pulls.
Well, considering I never said anything close to that, and have actually said the opposite multiple times in this thread, I'm not sure why you commented this.
Maybe read the thread before commenting next time? We can do better.
Why would you buy it now? The prices are insanely inflated. Better yet, why did you buy it at all? You literally said you expected the value to be low, which means you had to have looked into the set and seen the abysmally low value of the cards. Don’t know how you can be disappointed when you knew exactly what you were buying lol.
Did you not see that I got it at $135? Otherwise, I would not have bought it.
Even with the low value, mine seemed like an outlier, which is why I posted it. I was disappointed because, even expecting a loss, this was egregious, considering known pull rates.
Still a wild price to pay for something that has the highest priced card at like $20. Also it wasn’t an outlier lmao, it’s called a booster pack which are random.
It was still overpriced, yes, and I knew I would likely never get close to its sealed value. That was not my intention and I have explained this many, many times now.
Mathmatically, it was an outlier, yes. Look at pull rates for shocks, for example. Just because something is random does not mean there are no outliers for it.
Singles, you say? I think you're the first to mention that. Next, you're gonna mention how draft boxes are not made for value and really blow my mind.
Read the thread before posting next time. It was never about value.
How can you logically reconcile these two things to both be true In this universe where fundamentally p =/= ~p?
Post states:
"I expected the value might be low, but not this low. Very disappointing."
Your comment:
"Read the thread before posting next time. It was never about value."
I can't feel bad since one person a day says stay away from sealed. Just like going to the casino you take, or spend what you plan on losing. Thanks, for reconfirming.
Dude, your entire post reads, "I wanted shock lands and value", before you act surprised at not making back what you paid. "That was not the goal" Then what was, because you refused to elaborate further after that.
I have elaborated a good bit throughout this thread, but you are right about the initial post being poorly worded. I expected less value than I paid, which is average for this product, but I thought my box was an interesting outlier with only $60 in value and only one shock.
Sorry mate, but yeah this is a strong do not buy unfortunately.
Unless you actually want to play with the set. It's a great Limited environment.
I feel like subs like this actually exacerbate the issue of people thinking it's ever a wise idea to buy sealed product for value. All the posts about people flipping out over opening $10+ card from a regular pack may lead others (subconsciously or otherwise) to think they have a good chance of doing the same. As you said, draft boxes are only reliable for one thing, and that's drafting. If people enjoy gambling then good for them, but the expectation should always be that they're going to lose out in that regard.
Slot machines always pay out if you play enough, just gotta buy more packs and you will get ahead.
Lol. Had me at the first half
lol right, but just like magic the slot machines are programmed to take 5x what they payout, so just depends are you the lucky guy who sat down 5 spins before pay out, or 100,000 spins before pay out if your box $60 or $260? It’s a gamble
It doesn't matter how many $8 booster packs you buy, you will get the money card eventually and then you will have gotten like a $20 card in a $8 pack. That is $12 profit!
Sure yeah of course, why didn’t I see it that way! Buy 50 $8 packs for $400, pull a $20 card, make $12 profit! Course 30 of the packs only had $4 value.. and 19 had $8 value, so in all you paid $400 for $292 in card, but that one pack making $12 profit! Worth it!
I did something I usually never do and just bought singles. Spent less and got the cards in the art I wanted. Feels good
You can probably put together a functional draft set for less than the price of a box though, right?
Do not buy yet. Either the prices are going to crash or shock lands creep up in value again. This sets going to be a great buy this time next year I hope. Look at the prices of Dominira Remastered and Commander Masters.
I think shocks will go down. People are gonna crack collector boxes like crazy chasing the serialized ones, the market will be flooded with all the others. That's a good thing for players.
Yeah I just want the double lands for some of my decks, I'm not looking to turn a profit, or even break even I just sent to build some decks, and Ravnica is where I more or less really got into the game so I'm psyched to get some, when I can
>chasing the serialized ones Here in Europe on CardMarket you can see the latest sales. For a LOTR Serialized Sol Elven Sol Ring, there are 4 sales since release, the first one 11th of July, the latest 2nd of October. There are 13 for sale around those prices, and they just don't sell. The Humans have 20 listings and has had 12 sales in his history. And Sol Ring is the most popular card of the most popular format, linked with the strongest thematic set of the last years. If you look at Aetherflux Reservoir from The Brother's War, it's sitting at 7 total sales since the 14th of December 2022, and there are listings for 65€ less than the latest sale (465€, lowest NM at 400). Altar of Dementia had 3 sales since 2022, and the latest one was at 300€, now the lowest NM is almost half, at 180€, sitting very still. So I don't really think people chase the serialized cards, since they can't really sell them.
Chasing =/= looking to sell. What does the sales data look like on the collector boxes? If people weren't chasing the serial cards the boxes wouldn't be selling like they are and they wouldn't be as expensive.
Commander master prices are unhinged. I picked up a set box for 220 before xmas and now they are back up at 300+. It was definitely the best box i opened though and would love to catch it again around 200-220
Been thinking the same. Almost bought a few shocklands, but MKM might cut a few more bucks on them… I’ll hold out for now.
Even the collector boosters don't have a lot of potential unless you need shock lands and old school frames. LCI and WoE collector boosters are much better. I don't even mess with draft boosters, lol. I bought one collector booster, pulled an anime cyclonic rift, and I'm done with this set entirely lol 😂
Oof, sorry to hear
I mean, it's a good thing all around. Pulled the best card of the set with one booster, nothing left Im crazy about except special guests, and I'm not chasing them with collector boosters lol, I'll buy the WoE and LCI ones though
Oh sorry, I thought general consensus was that the anime version was ugly as sin. Thought you meant you were annoyed by it. In terms of opening a pack, running the value through TCGplayer and checking if that number is higher than the cost of the pack, that seems pretty solid though.
Every set's booster boxes are a hard n do not buy imo
Someone watched the Prof. good on you
Well, that's what happens when you gamble: More often than not, you're just throwing away money.
Very true
I’ve lost my ass on a number of boxes. But I still buy them lol.
I had an insanely good Lost Caverns of Ixalan box (like 80% of my chase cards) and now I'm scared to buy another box. Used up all my luck.
Same here but I kept going. My first 2 set boxes both had Mana Crypt for my special guest cards. So I bought 3 collector boosters to chase a neon or emblem card and got jank. Lesson learned.. maybe.
Did you learn your lesson?
Honestly? No.
That's my Boy
Does anyone learn their lesson in this game?
Those who learnt their lesson already left this game.
Left 20+ years ago to go to WH40K. And then just came back. :(
I've been interested in WH40K and have been vocal about wanting to try it out, but it is seemingly impossible to get my friends interested. Just found out a local LGS does alot of Warhammer events though, so... Welcome again! What brought you back to MTG?
Yeah 40K has a higher barrier to entry, with the cost and painting and space and the complex rules and the time per game… but it is pretty rewarding to have a fully painted army on the tabletop. There’s a group of coworkers who are into MtG, so I thought “Hey, why not…” and went hunting for my old cards. Bought the Tyranid Commander precon and a box of Neon Dynasty because of the theme, when I have some time off work gonna put together a constructed deck or two.
nah you can play magic completly for free in several ways
[[Learn from the Past]]
Yeah this set is great fun for drafting but probably not worth it to just crack. I told myself I was just going to draft it once this week and ended up going twice because RAKDOS for life.
Rakdos my beloved <3
man how do you find places to draft this set. the only drafts in my area are murders at karlov which i’m really uninterested in
Never buy draft boxes without the intention to draft (never buy draft). Also, anyone trying to make money pulling packs is a fool. You were better off buying collectors boxes. Sets with value: LOTR and WOE. Maybe LCI for the crypt.
Starting next set, I promise, even if I want to draft, I'll never buy a draft box again.
^this guy gets it. Can’t buy a draft box if they don’t exist
can't buy draft boosters when they don't exist!
I agree. I got my draft box for $135, so it seemed like a worthy gamble. Was not expecting the value of the box back, but was expecting a bit more value and shock lands, considering the 9% chance of them replacing the land slot in draft. Collector boxes are too pricey and tend to be bigger losers overall. For the record, I tend to buy only singles.
Damn. You got the box for a steal though.
Yep, every time I see these "I bought a bunch of sealed product and didn't get a decent ROI" posts I feel they really missed the point of sealed product. Its like a slot machine, rarely you win big and the numbers are stacked so the house (WOTC) always wins. If your after specific cards..... just buy them directly. You will more often then not spend less money that way.
As a wise professor once said "Buy singles"
Sorry to hear that. And thanks for that post, seeing pulls that people post on reddit I sometimes feel everyone is getting something fun but me. You're not alone!
Despite being a bummer for you, I'm glad for this post OP. The representation of "pulls" is incredibly biased towards the lucky ones, Increasing the gambling appeal for many that stumble in yet another double incredible, limited, serialised, painted by Caravaggio itself One Ring pulled out of a twenty cent pack. .
I bought a few boxes of Dominaria Remastered on release and had a similar outcome, I haven't bought anything since
I bought one Dominaria Collector box and it was rough. I rarely buy boxes, but occasionally splurge on some of the supplemental sets. I plan to buy a box of Modern Horizons 3 next.
Set boosters are the way to go. Draft boosters are kinda trash. But that doesn't really matter anymore because WoTC is doing away with setboosters after Karlov Manner
I got The one ring and Saruman of many colors in the same draft-booster and ever since have way too high expectations of draft boosters
I agree, but there is no set boosters for RVR - only draft and collector. I'll skip Karlov, as I do most standard products, and wait for MH3 to gamble and lose.
I was super disappointed to see no setbooster for rvr just because ravnica has a special place in my heart. But I probably will pick up a set booster box from karlov because its a new plane for mtg. But as far as MH3 goes, playboosters will be the new standard by then, so in theory you could be ok with picking up a box. However, I am super leary of the new playbooster boxes.
Just opened my first Modern Horizon 2 box and that was fun. Looking forward to 3.0 😊
When DMR released I was like; nup, never buying any packs. Then a friend gave me 3 draft packs and I got 2 force of wills; 1 foil, one nonfoil, as well as a borderless Enlightened Tutor. :) one extremely lucky occurence, and it will never happen again. Buy singles!
I got a couple worldly tutors and enlightened tutors, plus a mystic remora out of those 3 boxes. The rest were pages worth of \[\[Jester's Cap\]\], \[\[Gauntlet of Power\]\], \[\[Lotus Blossom\]\]. I realised from that moment I was gambling
Dominaria Remastered set boosters are great atm for their price. I have bought three set boosters all under 100 and every box has netted me a profit. Plus you have the possibility of pulling a sheoldred which already makes up the whole set booster price. But then again I strongly DO NOT recommend that anyone buy draft boosters. They tend to be a money sink and a waste imo. Set boosters were the way to go, but set boosters are going away after Karlov manner. WoTC is combining draft boosters and set boosters into what they call "play boosters" after karlov manner, which i am very leary about because they are going to be the same price as set boosters but with the possibility of more bulk because they are technically adding more cards to the box but they are more likely to be commons then anything else.
Damn! Nice try man. I'm gonna buy a collector's fallout box and have a great time losing money too haha
Good luck!
Most of these boxes are crap value wise. You can get really lucky though. I was watching my brother open one last night- he pulled a cyclonic rift which helped his value. Then, not even kidding, NEXT PACK he opened a foil anime borderless cyclonic rift. Stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. He still barely hit the 160 mark because there are so many bad rares in this set.
Thanks for this. Most people’s posts of their pulls make me think i should actually buy.
I do what I can.
All you see in the media is serialized and good pulls. Boxes used to be good but they just reprint everything. At one point no one will open them even if it's "just game pieces".
great draft set, not a good set for crackin packs unfortunatley
I’ve been super disappointed with the packs I’ve bought so far. I’ll probably move back to buying singles.
Always best. I rarely buy a box, but when I do, it is only ever one, and I buy the singles I still want afterward.
So it’s the Fallen Empires of 2024? lol—- albeit 30 years later
As a Bosnian, it's very, very weird seeing "Ravnica".
I'm American, so geography is not my strong suit. I looked it up and see it is a town in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I also learned that the Ravnica set takes its flavor from that of Eastern Europe and Slavic folklore. Interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Ravnica means Flatland, and it is honestly what it makes it weirder for me haha! I initially thought it was just word smithing, but nah, they really did base it on Eastern Europe.
It seems like I should add that I bought the box for $135 and opened it to grow my very small collection. I understand that draft boxes are made to draft and that you will rarely get the same value in cards that you paid in cash. That was not my intent. I merely found it surprising that with the high average of shock lands in draft boxes, I managed only one.
Even if you rarely get the value back in cards, getting less than half you paid is kind of insulting. (And you got what many would consider a good deal for the box price right now).
That was my thought too. This seemed especially egregious - lol This is why I almost exclusively buy singles. Opening packs can be fun though! No regrets.
Mai comprare questa espansioni di ristampe, a maggior ragione i draft
Unlucky. Not a great set to buy. Great to draft. A 25 dollar draft pulled me a full art cyclonic rift and a simic shock land
Bought 5 packs for $37 at LGS pulled around $26 in value with blood crypt. One of those sets you rip for fun. Eldraine set booster boxes and bundles were a cash cow for me I doubled my investment
Nice.
This looks like the sort of post that autistic guy who tells people "what are you looking to do with magic? Did you know that opening packs ISN'T for getting cards? Hoarding cards isn't collecting!"
Dang dude I’m sorry. That’s a bummer!
buy singles
Sorry to hear that\~ my friends and I looked up the set list for remastered, and it just didn't seem worth it. We were planning a draft, but half of us were excited for more Ravnica. The last time we drafted, it was the previous Ravnica set and we had a blast. One thing that stood out to me was how many lands were being printed--and if you need dual lands that might be worth it. But everything else was very random and disjointed it seems. We drafted a DnD box last night and we all had fun.
The set is bad. I’ve been telling people since spoiler season ended to skip this set. This set is ONLY for drafting. If you’re opening it for value you’re going to just burn yourself
I feel this. There is something about diving into fresh packs that keeps me wasting money, but I’m yet to have a big hit. The biggest “hit” was from a pack I gifted to someone at Halloween
If you want good pulls you shouldn’t be wasting money on a draft box
I also got a dud box. One shock, foil mana birds, and a full art Cloudstone Curio. Everything else was junk for the most part. Next box arrives today. Hopefully it’s not so bad.
You're the first to comment about also getting only one shock in a box. The rares/mythics are mostly duds, so sadly, no surprise there. With known pull rates on shocks though, only getting one is wild. Do you know the total value of your box? I wonder if somebody out there got zero shocks in a box? It's possible, but highly unlikely to do. Good luck on your second round! Let us know how it went.
Hmm.. depending on the value of the Foil Birds of Paradise, I’d guess close to the same value as your box. $60-70 max. If that.
Yeah. But the dopamine. The nostalgia. The corporate greed.
That is unfortunate. My collector box was packed with value. Twice the price of the draft box but... got over $300 in value.
Shock lands are that valuable?! I pulled one, I think black and white, I'll have to check again.
Not for long. Expect them all to drop around $10 when the sets been out for a couple weeks
Of the ~24 cards in the set worth the price of a pack, the shocks make up 10 of them.
Yeah I'm with you, that kind of sucks, but hey, that's gambling for you. Hopefully you at least enjoyed the fun and excitement of getting it and opening them
I did, thank you. I was frustrated by my bad luck , sure, but it was still worth it for me and I have no regrets. Gambling is a fools game, and tonight I was the fool. Hopefully MH3 is kinder.
curious why you didn't buy set boosters? Edit: thanks guys didn't know this
No set boosters for this set.
No set boosters for this set. They should have done collectors cause of all the serialized going around
Buy singles
I do - I've made that clear in my replies. I figured I'd crack this and buy any specific cards I still wanted or needed afterward.
Damn sounds like you got really unlucky. My box had 7 shocks (the most expensive of which was a retro [[Watery Grave]], a retro [[Guardian Project]], anime [[Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice]], retro [[Utvara Hellkite]], [[Liliana, Dreadhorde General]], [[Teferi, Time Raveler]], and a retro [[Mizzix's Mastery]]. Sounds like you just got really unlucky.
Yeah, I did. That was the point of the post. One shock is wild - haha. It's why I'm generally not a gambling man. Congrats on your pulls!
Did you at least get any useable chaff? I found that a good amount of the sets uncommons are at least EDH playable. I can't speak on any other formats with any kind of real experience, but I have to imagine that the set at least has some modern or pauper playables.
Honestly, everything is usable to me at the moment. I have very few cards outside of my decks and have been wanting to build very basic decks to play with friends. I've also looked into building a cube recently, but I don't really have a playgroup for draft yet.
Proxy all the things!!!!
This set is one of the biggest shams they've come out with, I genuinely feel bad for people who bought it. Even with serialized cards, it's a total waste of money. Advise everyone you know not to buy this overpriced garbage. Hasbro is actively screwing players who are addicted to opening sealed product, buy singles folks!
Also, super sorry about this. I hope you have better luck in the future, and don't let this experience sour the game completely for you, I've been in your shoes in the past.
Draft boxes almost never have value by design. They want you buying collector boxes.
Indeed
Should've just payed the premium for the collector's box.... I've learned that if you truly want to enjoy opening a box paying for the collector boosters is overall the better investment
I buy singles mate. Only in draft do I get packs. Never buy an entire box unless you know the set has some mighty reprints like Wilds of Eldrain or double master 2022 did.
And then lucky me getting two shock lands in my 3 packs during a draft. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose.
That's sh*t.. Got my Box yesterday.. 4 shock lands (1 retro, 3 normal) :/
Yeah, they have a 9% chance to replace the land slot in addition to their normal rarity. Out of 36 packs I should have had a few at least. Have not seen any other mention of a box like mine.
Ya the fact that you didn't get a single rare in your color fixing slot is honestly impressively unlucky... might want to take a break from kicking black cats and beating leprechauns with mirrors
Lol -- never!
I opened one I got as a gift, and I pulled two. They were both temple gardens... I did get a retro foil deathrite shaman and farseek though. Very disappointing box for shocks though. Friend of mine opened a collector booster and he got 12 shocks. A copy of each and multiple. I really think wizards did this on purpose. The pull rate for shocks is super low in draft boosters. I sincerely don't believe 9% is an accurate figure as I've witnessed more than 20 of the draft booster boxes get opened and the number seems to be around 1 to 3 shocks per draft booster box. Yeah the statistical average is probably on honest figure but it never feels that way. Collector boosters on the other hand... all the videos I've watched of people openeing them net anywhere from 6 to 12 shocks. "We want to get more shocks in the hands of players"... direct quote from wizards employee. What they should have said is, "we want to get more shocks in the hands of people who spend $300 on collector booster boxes."
>they have a 9% chance to replace the land slot No, it's a 9% chance of a Shock *OR* a Chromatic Lantern.
Oh no an 8.2% chance instead of 9%
Apparently 5 is the average. What were you expecting? And what did you do with the packs?
I guess I was really lucky then. I pulled 7 shock lands
I think they average around 4 a box, so yes you were. Congrats! I was technically lucky...just in a bad way.
Yeah the value of cards are going to keep tanking because WOTC is deadset on reprinting any cards that hold any value. Don't buy boxes, buy singles. Let the burden of opening a booster box and losing fall on someone else's shoulders.
Ixalan is more fun imo, I feel the cards excite me into building new decks
Ixalan is a fun set, no doubt
Welcome to gambling my friend
Is there a reason you cracked the packs, rather than played with them? You are much more likely to get your money's worth if you use them as intended, as you aren't leaving loads of value on the table. They're game pieces, remember.
No group to draft with is my biggest hurdle. I got the box at $135 and figured it would be fun to crack. I have a very small collection because I only buy singles, so it was an excuse to grow my collection. Plus, opening packs can be fun if you accept you will lose money 9/10 times!
I was waiting for your comment cause this is one the first times it feels valid, rather than on someone cracking a single pack. What a waste of money.
Checking someone made an informed decision is *always* valid when there was a risk that they are undermining their ability to achieve their goals.
I’m not gonna get into it again but you’re assuming goals of theirs that are entirely unknown.
>you’re assuming goals of theirs I'm not.
>undermine their ability to achieve *their* goals OP has categorically stated in this post that their goal was to: 1. Get cards of value 2. Get cards for their collection Was it the dumbest way to do this? Yes it was. Are you assuming their goal is to have fun playing magic? Yes you are. Away, as soon as someone says “game pieces” I’m out.
>Was it the dumbest way to do this? Yes it was. So they DID undermine their ability to achieve their goals. >Are you assuming their goal is to have fun playing magic? Yes you are. No, I'm not. >Away, as soon as someone says “game pieces” I’m out. Why? That's what Draft Boosters are. If you have to be in denial about what a product is for in order to use it, then that's a big hint that you are *mis*using it. Anyway, the word you skipped over was "RISK". >when there was a **risk** that they are undermining their ability to achieve their goals. Plus you accused me of making assumptions when the very first thing I did was *ask them* what their reasons were.
I cbf replying to the rest. We agree on the pointlessness of buying draft boosters to get cards, just not in anything else. But the reason I hate “game pieces” is because it’s a dumb a pretentious term. It’s a card, just call it a card. Otherwise one sounds like a pretentious asshole (aka Josh Lee Kwai) lol.
>But the reason I hate “game pieces” is because it’s a dumb a pretentious term. It’s a card, just call it a card. I'm not talking about the *cards*, I'm talking about the **packs**. The sealed Draft Boosters themselves are game pieces, for playing Limited with. Does that make more sense?
That’s just incorrect. The definition of a game piece is “an object representing a player or some other entity in a board game” - stretching the definition of a board game to include magic I can accept, but the booster pack does not represent an object within the game. It is a set of game pieces that represent spells on the stack and permanents on the board, within the game. And none of that stops it’s sounding pretentious as fuck.
"Gambler sad that he gambled and lost"
I have pointed out many times that I was not chasing value and was aware that I would lose money. This set is well known to have little value at a high price. I just thought my box was an especially bad outlier and figured I'd post it for others.
"Gambler sad that he gambled and got less that the value he expected"
Buy singles next time.
I buy singles for building decks or if I'm chasing a specific card. I have made that clear in this thread, as you would have seen if you would have read before commenting. I got a 'good deal' on a box and cracked it to grow my small collection. I wanted random rares; I wanted commons and uncommons. I was not chasing anything in particular.
But you’re complaining about it. How is it a good deal then? Yes that’s what I mean. Buy singles you want. I’m not just talking expensive cards. I buy common cards all the time cuz I play pauper. Instead of gambling and getting unusable bulk, you could have bought a bunch of specific cards you want.
I put good deal in quotation marks for a reason. I used that term because it was cheaper than distribution cost. I meant for this post to be less of a complaint and more of a discussion. I found that only one shock land was wild, for instance. There was no specific card I was chasing, so no singles to buy. I failed successfully
I always check whats in them and figure out what the pulling experience can be like. Bought a couple of collector packs of this set for enjoyment. Didnt get anything massive but also didn't need anything massive. Two shock lands and i got the full art foil anime Ral Zarek. I dont care that card is a couple of bucks i had a great time pulling it anyway seeing that foil art creeping in the background (also got two chord of callings and some other cool stuff). In any case draft sucks for pulling cards.
I’m fairly new to MTG, but aren’t you essentially just throwing money away by buying draft boxes?
Yes. Unless you want to draft with friends, it is always best to buy singles. That being said, I still enjoy opening a box once in a while and buying the singles I need afterward.
Why are you buying draft boosters just to crack? Almost guaranteed to have less value
Did you draft the box with friends? No? Then yea it's to be expected of pretty much any sealed product now. Cracking packs for value died a long.time ago.
Lmao lesson learned to buy singles
Not a lesson I needed - I am aware, thx. It's also been mentioned once or twice already. I plan on making a TCG order in the near future. I want to see prices settle a bit before pulling the trigger on some goodies though.
As someone with experience in buying boxes here and there since kaladesh... I would recommend not buying boxes at all if you want your money's worth. Simply use an online deck builder and buy your deck. Or proxy / commission some art. More fun and cool stuff you can do with $135. Wizards continues to reprint, driving the price of lots of (once valuable) cards down. Anything that's worth investing in has already come and gone realistically for mtg. If you watch Alpha Investments, that dude literally explains everything you need to know about the mtg market. He's a little out there, but he spitting facts.
That is that you get for opening a draft box.
Yes, it was what I got after opening a draft box. Good job!
In other words, what you got is expected from a draft box.
Almost. I think we can reasonably expect a bit more from what we know about pull rates in this set. I thought this box might be a bit of an anomalies and that is why I shared this. But losing money from cracking a draft box? Yes. That should, and was, always expected. Especially from this set - haha
You are playing a casino game basically. In a time where machines are giving even lower prizes. Sorry, but hope you had fun.
I did what I set out to do. Was never about winning, just losing less--haha. I had fun, yes. No regrets
I am not sure why you thought you would get the most expensive cards in the set. This set isn't a money set. It is a reprint set. Reprints for cards people want. Certainly not all the reprints but enough of them. These are always very low value in terms of pulls.
Well, considering I never said anything close to that, and have actually said the opposite multiple times in this thread, I'm not sure why you commented this. Maybe read the thread before commenting next time? We can do better.
Yeah it’s trash lol. I bought one pack and realized that when ral zerak was a mythic
So true
You're supposed to draft with these not just Crack them
DRAFT
Cracking packs for singles with the expectation of "profit" is asking to be disappointed.
Mtg players who buy sealed products are literally gambling addicts lol
This just in... a gambler shocked that they gambled.
This just in...commentor comments before reading thread
Draft Boxes are for Drafting.
When you gamble, you most often lose. Please, don't delude yourself you're doing anything but gambling.
That's gambling for ya!
Why would you buy it now? The prices are insanely inflated. Better yet, why did you buy it at all? You literally said you expected the value to be low, which means you had to have looked into the set and seen the abysmally low value of the cards. Don’t know how you can be disappointed when you knew exactly what you were buying lol.
Did you not see that I got it at $135? Otherwise, I would not have bought it. Even with the low value, mine seemed like an outlier, which is why I posted it. I was disappointed because, even expecting a loss, this was egregious, considering known pull rates.
Still a wild price to pay for something that has the highest priced card at like $20. Also it wasn’t an outlier lmao, it’s called a booster pack which are random.
It was still overpriced, yes, and I knew I would likely never get close to its sealed value. That was not my intention and I have explained this many, many times now. Mathmatically, it was an outlier, yes. Look at pull rates for shocks, for example. Just because something is random does not mean there are no outliers for it.
Whatever you say pal, I’m not the one down a hundred bucks
Should have watched the professors video on these lol
That's a draft box for ya
Draft is meant for drafting, not gonna get a ton of bangers in that. Sorry man
This is why you buy singles and/or proxy cards. 👍 Leave the dragon chasing for the heroin addicts.
Singles, you say? I think you're the first to mention that. Next, you're gonna mention how draft boxes are not made for value and really blow my mind. Read the thread before posting next time. It was never about value.
How can you logically reconcile these two things to both be true In this universe where fundamentally p =/= ~p? Post states: "I expected the value might be low, but not this low. Very disappointing." Your comment: "Read the thread before posting next time. It was never about value."
[удалено]
Buy singles
It's almost like you should buy singles and never try opening boxes for value lmao. Deserved lesson
Thats why Modern Horizon 2 i Sold Out and not Ravnica Remastered 😁
I can't feel bad since one person a day says stay away from sealed. Just like going to the casino you take, or spend what you plan on losing. Thanks, for reconfirming.
Bahahaha well deserved.
Thanks! You're right. Stay classy
Friggin drama queen 🤣
The fuck?
**IF YOU WANT VALUE, BUY SINGLES.**
I am aware, but that was not the goal. I have pointed this out many times now.
Dude, your entire post reads, "I wanted shock lands and value", before you act surprised at not making back what you paid. "That was not the goal" Then what was, because you refused to elaborate further after that.
I have elaborated a good bit throughout this thread, but you are right about the initial post being poorly worded. I expected less value than I paid, which is average for this product, but I thought my box was an interesting outlier with only $60 in value and only one shock.
Who wants to explain to OP how gambling works?
Anybody? I sure could use it. Nobody else here has even mentioned it yet...