are booster packs dying?
Economics forum
Posted on May 12, 2014, 7:28 p.m. by Fistfulvengence
most booster packs cost $4 and give a 50cent rare, even when buying a booster box, you'll rarely get your money back. so what is the point of buying boosters other then drafts?
I shouldn't be talking in this considering I haven't been buying long or that much, but I felt like throwing in my experience. So, since I started magic around the release of dragon's maze, I have spent probably..$200-$250 on sealed products. As of now, I have lost almost no value. Besides random single packs, I have gotten a deck builders toolkit, holiday gift box, and a booster box, all of which have either given their value pack, or a little under. I don't know if i'm just lucky or what, but my experience says packs are fine.
May 12, 2014 7:34 p.m.
JamestheJoo says... #4
I totally agree. I'm about to stop buying boxes and packs all together And just buy singles. the last time I bought a box of M14 and Theros, and barely broke even
May 12, 2014 7:35 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #5
Where are you buying standard booster packs that they're $4 each? Most shops should sell em for less than that. Personally, I get my boxes for super cheap, and always end up with >$100 in value. I wouldn't say by any means that booster packs are dying. If you don't feel like you're getting anything out of them, then that's your choice to spend your cash on singles. Others like cracking packs.
May 12, 2014 7:46 p.m.
JamestheJoo says... #6
After tax in CA they are about 4.00 per pack. you can get them cheaper at some places.
May 12, 2014 7:52 p.m.
Packs are $4 if you buy them at Target or other big retailers. But most LGSs should sell them in the $2.50-$3 range. I've only bought a couple booster boxes, but in my limited experience I've always gotten the value back out of them. Granted, my shop sells them pretty cheap ($90-$100) so that makes it easier, but I definitely wouldn't say packs are dying.
May 12, 2014 7:55 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #8
Check TCGPlayer for cheap boxes. I saw RTR boxes going for like $85 up until a few weeks ago.
May 12, 2014 8:03 p.m.
You guys sure are lucky. Every single place near me sells them at $4 each, save for one place that does buy 5 get 1 free, making them $3.33 each, except that the deal is only for some sets.
May 12, 2014 8:07 p.m.
I rarely buy packs (unless you count booster drafts, i do a lot of those), but when I do I only get like 3 packs. Most card stores that i've been do a 3 packs for $10 thing, but stores like Walmart sell them for $4 each plus tax. I've never bought a whole box, but I have gotten a couple. I won a 2HG giant pre release (Theros) with my brother and we won a box to split, I ended up getting most of his packs, then at the BNG pre release, I traded in a bunch of cards for $100 store credit and then paid like $20 to pre order a Box for BNG. Both of my boxes ended up being pretty good, probably pulled $100-$120 worth of cards each. Packs will never die though because 1, (especially to newer/younger players) it's fun and exciting to get a pack, not knowing what you'll get, sometimes you get a good card, other times you get a 50 cent rare. And 2, people with a lot of money to waste (i've seen this a few times) will just buy a bunch of packs because of "boredom", one day the owner of my local just started buying pack after pack of Innistrad (out of pocket) because he was bored.
May 12, 2014 8:15 p.m.
Not to mention that wizards will NEVER sell singles. The closed all their individual stores years sgo and try and stay away from the secondary market as best they can. Plus, if singles were the only way to aquire cards, not only would prices sky rocket, but wizards would be the primary buy place and lgs would disappear, another thing wizards doesn't want. Really, the problem is that your complaining about standard packs, and the reason Theros has so many corner cases rares is because it isn't very powerful in modern or legacy. Rtr's prices clearly reflect this reasoning.
May 12, 2014 8:53 p.m.
Uh.
Buying booster packs has almost always been a bad investment.
Let the scrubs open the packs and buy the singles for pennies on the dollar.
May 12, 2014 8:59 p.m.
guerillarage says... #14
I don't buy single packs anymore but almost always buy a booster box wenever a new set comes out. Since I strictly play EDH I'm also considering not buying booster boxes anymore and save money for buying singles.
May 12, 2014 9:16 p.m.
packs are a horrible idea, especailly any pack priced over $3 unless you like lotto tickets, ill sometimes buy a single pack of something older.
boxes are something you will normally break even on but really are best if youre building a collection or maybe you just want a bunch of stuff from the set and again, want to play the lotto. foil abrupt decay pays for 1/2 a box lol, and 3 shocks makes a pretty good dent, vs 1 elspeth and abunch of garbage. that being said i love trading and opening packs so i generally buy a box or 2 of a new set, when all the prices are inflated.
Best way to do it is buy singles.
May 12, 2014 9:47 p.m.
HarbingerJK says... #16
I haven't done research into it but I could swear they have started putting fewer cards into booster boxes. When I bought an Eventide box I could just fit all of the cards I had opened back into the box. Same thing with my Zendikar box. When I got a box of Gatecrash there was so much room left in the box that I felt ripped off
May 12, 2014 9:49 p.m.
JamestheJoo says... #17
I think there are less packs now. and or more not playable cards in the pack. so you throw out the junk and have fewer cards
May 12, 2014 10:04 p.m.
Well, there's always been junk. Anybody who has ever opened a Grappling Hook will let you know.
May 12, 2014 10:07 p.m.
HarbingerJK says... #19
@JamestheJoo I can't tell you how many shit rares I got in that Gatecrash box lol but I'm also more of a modern player so things like Soul Ransom I'm just like naaahh
May 12, 2014 10:08 p.m.
Dragon's Maze and Gatecrash had some generally awful rares, but that was ameliorated by the fact that shock-lands were in the set. I seemed to open a shock-land out of every three packs in Dragon's Maze, so even though no card aside from Voice of Resurgence was worth more than $6 (Ral Zarek maybe?), a shock-land with a shit rare made me feel better.
May 12, 2014 10:11 p.m.
Ultimaodin says... #21
You guys would hate Australia $6 is the average booster sale price.
I buy fat packs most the time because I need somewhere to store my cards.
May 12, 2014 11:19 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #22
My playgroup usually buys a box for each new set (4 people, 9 packs each, $25 per person). It's a nice way to keep up a little collection and have fun for a night. We don't always break even on individual boxes, but I think overall we've broken even.
For example, the GTC box we bought was CRAP - maybe two or three shocks, but that was the extent of it. For DGM, however, we bought the box for just under $100 and ended up with $200 in rares alone (yet no Voice).
We don't necessarily do it for monetary value, but for fun and the "what if I get xxx" factor. Hey, maybe for our JOU one someone will get lucky and pull a foil Athreos or something. Or the god pack. Probably not, but it's still fun to find out.
May 12, 2014 11:27 p.m.
Death_The_Kid says... #23
Well when I buy packs I dont look at it as a fun gamble and even when I get bum packs I am still happy lol. Packs for me are like $3 and change so it isn't to bad. I do not buy packs to earn value I guess, sure I would love a $20 rare but I know I wont get it. But when I get a cool card I do feel a large sense of joy from getting it lol. I do think it is not worth it if you just want to play for serious competition because it most likely is worth it to buy the singles. For me tho I like to have a large collection of commons and uncommons because I like to build multiple decks for me and friends.
May 12, 2014 11:31 p.m.
In Denmark you'll be VERY lucky to find a single pack at less than 6.5 USD, however you will usually get 4 packs for around 18.5 USD; essentially 1 pack free with every 3 packs. It is still pretty expensive though.
At my LGS, a booster box costs just a little over 156 USD... So we buy them from another store where they're "just" 125 USD.
May 13, 2014 3:21 a.m.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #25
My LGS sells packs at 4$ each but has a point system. For every dollar you spend you get a point. For every 100 points you get 10$ off your next purchase, and these do stack. So if you have 300 points you get 30$ off your next purchase, or can use only 100 points for 10$ off. Booster boxes are 120$ but if you preorder a week before pre-release you get double the points. This means for 120$ you preorder your box and then essentially get 20$off your next purchase, which can be used for the prerelease entry fee. That means 125$ gets you a box and tournament entry.
Buying packs is fun cause it's nothing more than gambling, and some people prefer to gamble. I crack packs, but I also buy singles if I can.
May 13, 2014 3:32 a.m.
JamestheJoo says... #26
the ONLY good card I ever bulled from gatecrash was Boros Reckoner
May 13, 2014 11:07 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #27
lol I've never opened a shock from a Dragon's Maze pack and have opened a ton hoping for a Voice of Resurgence .
I'm that person that opens packs & boxes for fun. I never really expect to get what I want, so I also buy singles & playsets of what I actually want from the set.
May 13, 2014 12:35 p.m.
I usually buy between 1-3 boxes, two boxes usually gives me a playset of all of the uncommons and a nice set of rares to play around with. Some sets were much better then others in terms of "return on investment. Out of the two boxes of JOU I got at ~$94 each I pulled a foil Athreos, which was worth $50 right there. From the rest, probably broke even, so I'm not complaining. Not as good as the previous two blocks, but a helluva lot better then Fallen Empires or Homelands...
May 13, 2014 4:47 p.m.
I have never failed to get my cost back out of a booster box, usually much more. But like everyone else, I don't buy booster boxes in the hopes of playsets for constructed play, I do it for the fact that you -do- occasionally luck into very high value cards, and it's a good way to get a smattering of stuff for EDH and tradebait. I generally turn around and dump as much of the box as I can into sites like Pucatrade.
May 13, 2014 11:39 p.m.
Sweden calling in, we're going with $6.1 each or $15.25 for 3. If you guys are complaining over $4 each, buy some for me and ship them, okay? I'd gladly pay $4 for a booster.
May 14, 2014 7:59 a.m.
CouponCollector says... #31
I doubt boosters are going anywhere. There are tons of people out there who know that the return value is terrible yet still play the magic lottery all the time. I have friends that every single set will buy a box at the very least. Getting bad return never deters them. People just like the rush of opening the unknown.
May 14, 2014 5:31 p.m.
Maybe but i found out Mtg are releasing booster packs to boost the sales but it doesnt seem going good heres the link http://magicthewebsite.blogspot.com/2014/05/journey-in-to-nyx-god-packs-are-real.html
May 15, 2014 1:58 a.m.
God Packs weren't an attempt to boost sales, they were a great flavour decision. If it weren't impossible, I'd have suspected Matt Cavotta's hand in there somewhere.
GoldGhost012 says... #2
I will freely admit that I am a sucker for buying booster packs. It's the anticipation and the "what if I pull X..." that get me every time.
May 12, 2014 7:29 p.m.