Addicted to opening boosters
General forum
Posted on Nov. 5, 2013, 9:54 a.m. by Hairyhulk
I have come to the realization that opening boosters is like gambling for me. I love doing it. As soon as I'm finished opening I want to go buy more! I don't spend ALL of my money on cards...but I really can't stop myself. It's kind of scary. Anyone else experiencing something similar?!
I went to the store to get some cases...ended up leaving with 5 packs of Theros lol.
November 5, 2013 10:20 a.m.
RedKunoichi says... #4
Technically opening packs is gambling. I also had a slight gambling addiction before I started playing magic, so it carried into the game as well. So, yes, I have the same issue when it comes to opening packs.
November 5, 2013 10:22 a.m.
Oh god, I know exactly what your talking about. Its just like buying scratch tickets and lottery.. You could get jack shit, or you could get some $30+ card. Be careful man, Around the time of gatecrash I was buying so many booster packs. I probably bought like 6 packs every single day. For like 3 months. I spent thousands during that time, ruined the business i was trying to do, and realized I had a problem. Now I spend less on cards and just buy singles, because its an too expensive of an addiction.
November 5, 2013 10:26 a.m.
And usually end up winning booster packs at FNM with the cards i buy.
November 5, 2013 10:29 a.m.
GreatSword says... #7
I've got half a box of Theros behind me, unopened. Wife and I have been using it to play 1v1 limited formats for a few weeks now. I usually have to stop her from opening a bunch on the drive home.
November 5, 2013 10:41 a.m.
With Theros I've pulled so much money it makes me want to keep going. But I really have to slow down. Reading what 8vomit wrote is a reality check. That's intense man.
November 5, 2013 10:47 a.m.
I still buy a few packs here and there, but nothing like before. It got to the point where my friends were like telling me to slow down. Cardboard crack.Also, idk where you buy your packs, but I have had pretty good experience with the wal mart/rite aid type packs.
November 5, 2013 11:12 a.m.
I'm the same way. It can get kind of scary at times, because out of no where I no longer have gas money. But what gets me is that slim chance that I could get something amazing.
I bought three booster boxes in one day. ONE DAY. That was when I realized I needed to calm down a bit with buying packs. I now only buy singles for my collection. I'll buy packs here and there for fun of course.
Eventually when you get to the point where you have no money for food or other important needs, you realize you have a serious serious problem, and you kind of just stop. If it gets too out of hand and you find yourself unable to stop even when you're at your breaking point, you probably need help.
It's called cardboard crack for a reason.
November 5, 2013 11:19 a.m.
vampirelazarus says... #12
@pandith:reminds me of a song by Tim Blood and the Gutpanthers: "If I can't afford to eat, how can I afford to write?"
But yeah, cardboard crack. I've been there. Usually right around the time a new set is released. 8vomit nailed it on the head, for me, I was the same way. I had no other interests outside of work, and no other expenses, really, so mymoney went to Magic. When I made the decision to go back to school, my funds became severely limited, and now I buy singles, even though they are expensive.
And due to them being expensive, I promote the use of sites like this, so you can build decks,share, playtest, get information, and then buy the deck. Because lets face it, you can have a shit ton of money cards, but that doesn't mean the deck will win.
Unless you are my buddy last standard season with his Naya midrange....
November 5, 2013 11:31 a.m.
vampirelazarus says... #13
Correction: Its "How can I afford to write, if I can't afford to eat?"
November 5, 2013 11:34 a.m.
I just decided to work on the collection I'm starting instead of playing. I'm not a player at all, I would rather sit around all day looking at cards than playing with them. Does that make sense? I guess there are two different types of people, haha.
November 5, 2013 11:51 a.m.
It's definitely exciting to open up booster packs, especially knowing that any foil could be in your pack. Everyone wants to open the foil 'Walker.
But you'll also come to realize that opening packs is a massive waste of money, especially if you really only want a small handful of cards from the set. Instead of buying a box of Theros and only getting some of what I wanted, I dropped that $100 on the cards I knew I wanted and now I don't need to buy cards again until the next set. In fact, I don't spend any money on Magic aside from tournament entry and releases.
November 5, 2013 11:58 a.m.
BiggRedd54 says... #16
I remember being like that when I started. Not really in need of cracking packs any more. I'll still get some every now and then, mostly from tournaments and fortune cookie insights :P.
November 5, 2013 12:46 p.m.
It may seem like buying singles is expensive, but if you are at the point where your questioning addiction, you probably could have bought every card you're looking for twice. Whats fun about boosters is the possibility of pulling something you wouldnt buy a single of, like a foil thoughtseize or something.
November 5, 2013 9:36 p.m.
Goddamnit Hairyhulk Thats what ive been hoping to pull since theros dropped. It makes me want to buy more boosters but I know Ill be broke.
November 5, 2013 10:03 p.m.
I have this issue. I don't even use the majority of the cards I pull, I just enjoy opening boosters and hoping. I keep giving myself justifications for it by just pointing at the (what many of my friends consider to be) insane luck I have at pulling Mythics (Once pulled 4 mythics out of 5 boosters, and another time 2 mythics from a single booster). Still, it's something that I'm doing my best to stop. Isn't easy though.
November 5, 2013 10:09 p.m.
I have a nonfoil and foil Thoughtseize . I'm willing to trade them, however I don't need anything at the moment, so your offer would truly have to swoon me 8vomit.
November 5, 2013 10:12 p.m.
@Hairyhulk : I'll give you a Storm Crow for them. Final offer.
In seriousness though, I pulled a Thoughtseize the first time I bought Theros boosters, and keep buying more just in the hopes of finding more. Instead I get things like Ashen Rider and Griselbrand (Which was my own mistake for accidentally grabbing what I thought was Theros and turned out once I got home to be something else entirely).
November 5, 2013 10:20 p.m.
Griselbrand isnt a bad pull though man, he is a mean bastard.
November 5, 2013 10:26 p.m.
First Theros booster I opened I pulled Elspeth, Sun's Champion . I have pulled 3 more since then, lol.
November 5, 2013 10:29 p.m.
first theros pack i opened was from the black prerelease box. me and my buddy are sitting at the event, he opens a thoughtseize, i start to get mad at him, then I pull one too.
November 5, 2013 10:33 p.m.
HarbingerJK says... #28
I used to be, until I started buying singles online lol
November 5, 2013 10:41 p.m.
Hehe. That jealous pang as you watch your best friend open your dreams.
November 5, 2013 10:42 p.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #30
I had that issue with singles actually. Before I found this site I'd buy whatever card that could be used in a deck. Sometimes I'd find a card that I can make a deck around and I'd buy it, then I'd have to buy more cards to go in that deck. Hence the card cycling continues. It doesn't help that my local shop has BOX AFTER MASSIVE BOX of every single common and uncommon in every set. You can spend hours going through the common boxes looking for cards that you could use, and since I mainly played casual back then any card was useful. Minimum price for a card was 25 cents going up by only that amount, so I frequently found myself spending $200 on cards any given week. I now have about $2,000 worth of cards that don't actually ever see play in any real deck. My only hope is for young casual players and maybe EDH players.
I should also mention that I don't ever get anything good cards in my packs. A foil Marsh Flats back when I started 3 years ago has since been the only card that is truly of any worth till about 6-7 months ago when I got a Breeding Pool . From then it wasn't till now for a Anger of the Gods . Besides singles, I also buy any duel-deck or other special sets, as they generally have enough worth in them to make up for the money.
Thanks to tapped-out, I've now smartened up and waited till I thought a deck was complete to a great deal before going out to buy the cards. I end up paying a lot more, but in the end I get a better deck and cards that can be used in any deck. I also only buy to a maximum one play-set for all of my decks, and then I just swap cards from deck to deck while I'm playing. This minimizes the cost to a massive degree as I don't really want to be paying for 8 Noble Hierarch s or 24 Misty Rainforest s.
November 5, 2013 10:53 p.m.
One of the first cards I pulled from Theros was a foil Erebos, God of the Dead at the pre-release. It was amazing, and I still have him now.
November 6, 2013 7:22 a.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #32
What's made Magic entertaining card-wise for me is the hustle... for lack of a better term. I've always viewed the game as having an investment minigame built in. I like actually being in the black when it comes to my investment into MtG. Not going to lie, it's a challenge but I like that. It also makes it so that, when I see a card that I've just got to have, I don't feel like ass for buying it... as long as it's within reason... Granted this carries the consequences that I usually only have enough cards to power two or three decks that aren't pauper at any given time and my inventory remains small until I part a deck out, but I'm okay with that.
November 6, 2013 7:47 a.m.
MonsterFinder221 says... #33
Heh, good thing i don't have enough money to start my Booster Pack addiction.
November 6, 2013 8:42 a.m.
There was a time when I would buy boosters. Back when I used to buy them there were more people on hand that would trade me / pay me for the rare I got. There were a group of us who had divvied up the mtg color pie and we traded with each other after buying cards. This was before drafting was a thing and I suspect that drafting effectively achieves a similar purpose.
These days I would only buy a pack as a small gift for a birthday or something like a stocking stuffer. If I made more money for it, I would probably draft but right now I am on a tight budget. Maybe some day.
Boosters are fun for trading and drafting - but extremely non-economical!
November 6, 2013 8:50 a.m.
MonsterFinder221 says... #35
Booster packs where i come from, cost around $5-7 dollars each. (I'm from an Asian country, you see. And you'd expect that because our country is very near to Japan, KMC sleeves would cost less. But no.)
myrxseven says... #2
The silence says it all. I enjoy going to Dollar Stores buying repacks, and buying the 9.99 1000 card instant collections from my local game store.
November 5, 2013 10:02 a.m.