Gonna Get Lotsa Boosters for standard, Suggestions?
Standard forum
Posted on Aug. 25, 2015, 11:24 p.m. by -Xiphos-
I wanna put tohether a standard deck, but most of my cards are between innistrad and dragons maze with some theros, born of the gods, and a tad bit of dragons of tarkir. I'm probably gonna spend about $20 on boosters and figured I might get them from different sets? That doesn't really look good for consistency though. I'm pretty sure getting Magic 2015 core set is a bad idea since when Battle for Zendikar comes out it's gettin booted out.
BTW, did Black Lotus get reprinted? Is it legal if I somehow managed to get one?
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #3
Black Lotus certainly did not get reprinted recently. And it would be Vintage legal if you managed to get one (good luck though XD).
August 25, 2015 11:33 p.m.
Ah, I just saw the non-old artwork and didn't know if it did. I kinda want to make a dragon deck sometime, but that's probably better off as modern with them being 6 mana most of the time. Does origins have good stuff? I know dragons had some good cards.
Don't know what khans, origins, fate reforged, or nyx have.
August 25, 2015 11:37 p.m. Edited.
Modern is a faster format than standard. You will find that there have been multiple successful Dragon-themed decks in standard, namely Esper, Mardu, GR, 5-color, and UB.
For twenty dollars of boosters, you're not likely to get very much that is going to end up "viable" in a good standard deck. however, if you play more of a casual standard then you would be fine. Either way, if you don't have very many standard-legal cards in your deck right now, I still think youll need more than 5-6 boosters (which is how many you will be able to get).
All this said, you're going to have the best luck buying boosters from a set that won't be rotating: Khans of Tarkir, Fate Reforged, Dragons of Tarkir, Magic Origins. All of these sets have "money" cards and viable, good constructed staples that you could pull. with Khans and Dragons being large sets, you'll get more variety from them.
August 25, 2015 11:50 p.m.
I might buy some boosters, but I also have plenty of legal cards at the moment. I will probably do this and buy singles for a standard whenever I buy singles for my to be modern U/B deck.
August 26, 2015 12:11 a.m.
If you want to make a standard deck, don't buy boosters. Tolarian Community College did an episode on why, but the odds are that you wont get enough multiples of any given card to make a functioning deck.
August 26, 2015 12:25 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #9
This thread was moved to a more appropriate forum (auto-generated comment)
August 26, 2015 7:22 a.m.
mathimus55 says... #10
$20 =/= "lots" of packs. Buying a box might constitute that, but if you're looking for anything to build a deck with just get the singles. Otherwise you're pretty much wasting your money. If you want to open packs do a draft so at least you have the chance of seeing more cards you need and can win more packs after. Unless you have money to burn(which it sounds like you don't) don't waste your resources on buying packs.
August 26, 2015 7:28 a.m.
Also worth noting, the "new" lotus art is from an MTGO only set called Vintage Masters that contained lots of power cards from vintage and legacy, and doesn't exist in paper. As for boosters, you probably should buy 0. Economically speaking, you will more than likely not make money back from 6 packs, and even if you do open, say Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Flip, good luck selling that for an entire deck. Instead, try to make some sort of budget $20 deck and just buy the singles for it, it'll be much better and more consistent and fun to play.
August 26, 2015 7:56 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #13
As others have said... don't. Packs are the least effective way to get the cards you need. Sure, they're fun... but for the money you'd spend cracking enough packs to build a decent deck, you could have bought a deck that's actually good. Buy singles!
August 26, 2015 12:03 p.m.
When ~are~ packs worth buying? Is the main reason they're not worth it for the OP because they won't help populate a deck from scratch and/or fill out a specific pre-planned build?
August 26, 2015 1:01 p.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #15
@Omeros: They're worth buying if you just want to have fun opening packs. It doesn't sound like that's why the OP wants them, though.
From a financial perspective, they're pretty much always a worse choice than singles. It's essentially gambling. From a practical perspective, what you mentioned is also a big problem.
EDIT: Addendum; they're also worth it if you want to draft. That's kind of what they're designed for.
August 26, 2015 1:04 p.m. Edited.
I've been wondering, how much does a booster costs in your country? In mine, it's something like $6,5 US Dollars
August 27, 2015 10:56 a.m.
Gorgosaurusrex says... #17
Neko069: Booster packs are $4.00 USD in the US on average. That's MSRP anyway. One of my local game stores sells them for $3.00 (and I still don't buy them).
Duskfell: As mentioned above, don't buy packs unless you are planning on drafting. Singles are a much better investment.
August 27, 2015 11:31 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #18
I get them for a little under $4.50, because Washington state has very high sales tax. This means making back my money is unlikely; the only packs I'll usually buy is an occasional KTK or FRF (because fetches), and fat packs when a new set is released. I don't expect it to be a wise investment, it's just for fun. I'm a firm believer in singles as the best way to get the cards you need. The math backs this up.
The only time I'd say a person should buy a bunch of packs is if they plan to draft or do sealed. Again, this is something every pack is designed for. Rarity on a card is heavily based on its expected impact in Limited. If you draft, you're getting extra fun out of the packs and people are more likely to get things they are happy with. But if you buy packs just to get cards, neither of these things is true.
August 27, 2015 1:51 p.m.
One twist on this that is a bit screwed up yet still exists - buying singles means having them shipped. And in my area the post office seems to be run by thieves. Quite literally had 3 shipments stolen in the past 3 months, even though I have a secured mailbox.
I still agree with singles being better value overall, but...
August 27, 2015 2:29 p.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #20
That sucks, Omeros. There's got to be someone you can talk to in order to get that problem solved. Do you have neighbors having the same problem? A whole community telling the local authorities to get their shit together usually works.
In the meantime, it's possible there's other ways to buy singles. Some game stores and comic book stores sell them. Maybe see if there's a place like that near you. The selection is smaller of course, but there's no need for shipping.
Omeros says... #2
Uhh, no, the lotus has been gone from standard basically as long as the format has existed. There's a lot of goodies in the Theros block, but with it rotating out relatively soon I'd say to go for a mix of Khans and Dragons of Tarkir.
August 25, 2015 11:33 p.m.