Was this dumb?
Economics forum
Posted on July 18, 2015, 7:05 a.m. by TheGrayMerchant
So I was at FNM and nobody wanted my Archangel of Tithes or Piledriver, and I didn't want them either, so I sold them and bought 5 packs. I then sold the rates and got 4 packs. Was it wise to just do that to get some cards and gamble for a walker?
Turning them into packs is a bad gamble. I wouldve used the credit to get cards you needed. Selling Archangel is fine, but I have a feeling it's going to do very, very well in a white weeny build. It's a freakin beast.
July 18, 2015 8:42 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #4
When you buy a pack, you turn a defined value (the retail value of the pack) into undefined value (the unknown contents of the pack) at an unfavorable rate (EV on packs is very low because there are only a few valuable cards and many bulk cards).
In essence, it's playing PowerBall or Mega Millions, winning a $40 prize, and reinvesting it in lottery tickets. Each time you come away with something, you're putting that winning at risk again and the odds are not really in your favor. You'd be better off pocketing the money and spending it more wisely if your goal is to make money.
If you really want to make "wise" investments, you should learn how to speculate on cards and try to keep yourself ahead of the various metas so you can capitalize on future spikes.
If your goal is to get more cards and also get better cards, then playing Limited is a better way to consume packs. At least you'll be playing for prizes to help you offset the potential of bad cracks. In my area, it's common for players to host a normal draft and then Rochester draft the rares and foils at the end of the night, which is a practice that helps redistribute the value based on skill and success rather than pure luck.
July 18, 2015 10:13 a.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #5
You can find some good videos on youtube explaining values and gambles of buying everything from a booster box to individual packs.
July 18, 2015 10:53 a.m.
I mean your not in a terrible place. Buying packs in not advised though. You might as well just save the store credit and put it towards outright buying a walker.
July 18, 2015 11:55 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
Touching on that idea, buying and trading for singles that you know you need is the most economical way to approach deckbuilding. If your goal, however, is to build your collection across the board, then you need to consider other options.
July 18, 2015 11:58 a.m.
At my prerelease a guy traded his Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip for a pack of MM2015 and he got a Remand and a Bitterblossom. So he got pretty lucky.
July 18, 2015 2 p.m.
Baltec it takes a special kind of stupid to trade a $20 card for a pack with an average value of $6. Guess it worked out for him, but the odds were terrible and you should never try something similar.
quesobueno123 says... #2
You should not have sold piledriver. Selling archangel was probably fine, but avoid buying packs.
July 18, 2015 7:11 a.m.