Buying Packs
General forum
Posted on May 22, 2013, 5:56 p.m. by DancesWithGoblins
Hey all. I'm looking to get hold of some staple/powerful rares to increase the value of my trade binder. What would you suggest is the best form to buy cards in? And which sets would you advise?
There isn't really a budget worth talking about, just wanting the lowest spend for the highest return, like everyone.
IAmKingTony says... #3
If you're looking to build a collection, then yeah you want to buy a box.
If you're looking to put together a certain deck that you've already put a list together for (or looked one up), then obviously singles is where you want to be.
May 22, 2013 6:31 p.m.
DancesWithGoblins says... #4
So it's established a booster box will give me best value when I'm not looking for specific cards.
What sets are likely to produce highest return, does anyone have any numbers/ solid advice?
May 22, 2013 6:34 p.m.
Singles are cheaper than buying boosters or boxes if you're looking for specific cards. I can spend $600 on Innistrad boosters looking for a playset of Liliana of the Veil and maybe find one or two or I could spend $500 and buy a playset of foils.
May 22, 2013 6:50 p.m.
Innistrad and Return to Ravnica are where the most money cards are at, especially Return to Ravnica since it's still in print and thus cheaper. I would stay away from Dragon's Maze and Gatecrash. Dragon's Maze is full of a bunch of dollar rares with its commons and uncommons designed mostly for Limited. Gatecrash has most of its good cards at common and uncommon. The only money cards are shocks, Boros Reckoner , Domri Rade , and Obzedat, Ghost Council .
Return to Ravnica has shocks, Jace, Architect of Thought , Sphinx's Revelation , Deathrite Shaman , and more.
May 22, 2013 6:54 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
Buying packs is the worst way to increase the value of your collection, to be honest. It's a financial sinkhole because the average return on packs is almost invariably lower than their retail value. You'll end up sinking $100 into packs only to get $70 back (of which probably only $50 is in serious value).
You're better off preordering boxes or buying collections.
May 22, 2013 7:03 p.m.
Browsing the common bins is a good way to do it, because more often than not you can find a few rares at the bottom. My friend went to a place that had a 2 for a dollar bin and got a foil Domri Rade from it.
May 22, 2013 7:13 p.m.
invictvsnox says... #9
Most stores I know of would charge you full price of a foil Domri Rade , regardless of where in the store you found it.
May 22, 2013 7:17 p.m.
The way they have it set up is you pay them for however many cards and you go look through and pick some out. The community is great enough that they don't need to worry about people stealing cards.
May 22, 2013 7:19 p.m.
invictvsnox says... #11
Good for you then, but that's some major profit loss on the part of the store. Let's hope you don't see them painting over the sign next time you take a visit.
May 22, 2013 7:23 p.m.
They get more than enough business with all of the products they sell, the place is bustling with activity at all hours of the day (business hours of course), and it's pretty rare to see anything more expensive than 50 cents in the 2 for a dollar bin. It was a lucky find for him.
May 22, 2013 7:27 p.m.
Buying packs are like buying lottery scratchers, sometimes you'll get a money rare, mostly you'll get junk in terms of trade value. One thing you could do is find places that sell their mtg product for less than usual at a noticeable margin. Sometimes walmarts and targets will have stock in older product that is no longer in print at the original retail value. This is especially so in places that mtg isn't the most popular, like Montana for instance you can find their walmarts still with stock of zendicar and dual decks from two years ago, their card shops also usually have to go 20% off of starcity prices on their singles.
May 22, 2013 7:32 p.m.
DancesWithGoblins says... #14
Unfortunately Demarge, I'm British and we don't have Walmart and all places that retail MtG are swamped with customers at all times because almost no corporate/chain company in the UK sells or specializes in MtG, that I know of.
So, regardless of Epochalyptik's experienced advice, I will probably have no choice but to stick to booster boxes and pre-ordering for Theros and M14 and hope for the best.
May 22, 2013 7:58 p.m.
invictvsnox says... #15
Believe me, I promise it's not a bad thing that you don't have a Wal-Mart where you are.
Also, now you know how it feels for us when we want to play 40k.
May 22, 2013 8:02 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #16
I would at least avoid core sets until you see complete spoilers. They typically aren't worth much in the end. Most of your value will come from blocks.
May 22, 2013 8:25 p.m.
DancesWithGoblins says... #17
Okay, thanks for the tips Epoch... and everyone else, of course.
I'll be sure to let T/O know if I pull something awesome. ;)
May 22, 2013 8:27 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #18
Oh, and make sure you check eBay, Craigslist, etc. for people selling their old Magic cards. You can sometimes find great deals that allow you to improve the value of your collection for comparatively little.
May 22, 2013 8:28 p.m.
invictvsnox says... #19
Yeah, I was going to ask about the core set boxes... thanks for the tip!
May 22, 2013 9:04 p.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #20
I looked at the number of rares for Dragon's Maze and saw that there are 14 cards that can pay for the pack you just bought, as well as Plasm Capture which is close at about 2 and a half dollars. I'm going of the assumption that you can find them at 3 dollars, which is how much they cost at Magic stores around me. 9 of those are mythic, so you can't count on them, but then there are only 35 rares left. If you count Plasm Capture , you've got better than a 1 in 6 chance of getting a regular rare card that can pay for the pack. I don't want to do all the math, but you add in the chance of a mythic and that 1 in 6 is still as low as the probability will go (until their value goes down), but you can pull the Voice of Resurgence which continues to rise as it wins tourneys, or even the slim chance of getting a shock land or foil rare. With the lowest probability of paying for your pack at 1 in 6, I believe that's the best deal for your money. If you want a box that's still cheap because its in print, Dragon's Maze is the way to go. The other day I pulled a Blood Baron of Vizkopa , a Watery Grave and a foil Unflinching Courage from the same pack, so I can attest that that's your best bet as far as boosters go.
May 22, 2013 11:40 p.m.
Yeah but for every rare in Dragon's Maze that pays for the pack, there's a bunch of 50 cent rares to go with them, such as Boros Battleshaper , Emmara Tandris , Trait Doctoring , etc.
Most of the rares from Dragon's Maze have inflated prices right now because the set is brand new and there hasn't been a major format-defining tournament yet for Standard.
May 23, 2013 12:03 a.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #22
I just said it is his best bet as far as boosters go. Trade the inflated ones quickly, and keep the ones you'd actually use. I mean, every set has its busts, this just currently has the best chance of not getting a bust.
May 23, 2013 12:18 a.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #23
Scratch that. I didnt look at RtR. That has about 25 cards that are almost 3 or higher. The added bonus of a shock land in Dragon's Maze is cool, but RtR is the way to go for consistent value. But DGM has that Voice of Resurgence ...
May 23, 2013 12:26 a.m.
Demarge said it right, buying packs is like getting scratch tickets. I think its a good idea to grab a box when a set first comes out just so you have trade fodder and updated cards, but it really is to just buy the singles your looking for. In the past 3 months I've dumped a ton of money into packs, looking for godless shrines and liliana of the veil. I still havent pulled either, and I could have bought a playset of each with the money Ive spent on boosters. So I stopped trying to pull them and just bought them. Its just easier. There's a certain level of fun and excitement that comes with opening a booster pack though, I feel.
vampirelazarus says... #2
Everyone I know who is very skilled at playing, buys booster boxes when a new set comes out (usually they buy two), then they trade what they have for what they need.
Personally, I just buy singles if I need it, if I don't, then I don't buy it.
Very rarely do I buy a booster pack anymore.
Protip, buying singles can get expensive (shocks, I'm looking at you, especially since I have to buy you all again since you got stolen at FNM last week.) -_-'
Anyways, singles, booster boxes, trades are probably the way to go. Boxes and trades over singles.
May 22, 2013 6:03 p.m.