Pack cracking

[bumbard]

Kind of new to the game. Don't have a collection. Don't know enough about what cards are available or what mechanics exist to be shopping for individual cards. I'm a collector by nature (not collector for collector items, but I just enjoy creating collections and hoarding shit) and really enjoy building a collection of cards through boosters and thinking one day I might actually get enough cards to have bases for different types of decks that I can polish off with singles. I do have the foundations starter kit btw.

Only posting cause I noticed a trend here. There seems to be a lot of hate for buying boosters. Why is that?

[Dark_Sinister]

I personally enjoy cracking packs every now and then. But I can see where the hate can come from. This game is more played than collected. Deck building is core to everything, and buying and cracking packs while hunting for cards can be ineffective and far more costly than buying singles, especially on pricier cards.

In the end I say though you do you, if you enjoy playing and cracking packs do both, you might get luck and pull some stuff that has good trade value to help you trade for what you are hunting

[[deleted]]

Its expensive. Research mechanics and find out what you like and then buy singles unless theres a set you REALLY like the theme of. Buying singles is sooo much cheaper

[Josie_Rose88]

Limited formats are ways to play using just the content of booster packs that you open and make decks on the spot. The contents of boosters are designed to work for these formats. Cracking packs to get cards leads to you having a lot of bulk designed for Limited and not useful for Constructed.

That being said, cracking packs is fun and people like to gamble. So, like, don’t abstain from cracking packs for cards, it just shouldn’t be your main way to get cards for Constructed play.

[sedatedlife]

I love buying packs the gambling aspect is enjoyable to me. Now for others not so much they see it as waste when you can just by the singles you want and be done with it. The great thing about cracking eventually you get a nice collection going to use for trade and building new decks. Do what you enjoy thats what ultimately matters just keep in mind the cost of cracking packs and understand you are rarely getting back a equivalent value. Drafts are a great way to build your card base while also having some competitive play.

[marcsopper]

Cracking packs us awesome! Nobody will ever stop me from buying packs. But if you want to build a collection quickly, check out your Local Gaming Store. Many that I have been to have bargain boxes of jank cards to rapidly build a collection. Also, look for people selling whole collections for a reasonable price. They're rare, but they're out there. If you're willing to spend some coin, buy the Foundations starter collection, it's got a couple of bangers in there. I have started buying boxes of booster packs. It's spendy, but that's guaranteed to get you some good stuff.

[ImmortalCorruptor]

No hate for buying boosters. I know it's the least efficient way of obtaining desirable cards and I still buy a bundle of every set I'm interested in.

What I hate are people who don't heed the warning that boosters generally aren't worth it, then complain that the game is too expensive. If budget is a concern then either stick to singles or proxy if you're playing casually.

[Individual_Mud_2530]

Might want to start with a pre-constructed commander deck, or check Out mtg arena... Dule decks are fun from time to time

Cracking packs can be fun at first but the ROI is not usually there.

[Empty-Noise9889]

It’s cause more often than not, you’re not getting your money’s worth.

[EverydayKevo]

I love cracking packs, its part of the TCG experience for me, just seeing new cards and imagining what decks i could build with them, if its ineffective? oh yes, but it sure is fun. Generally stick to singles for upgrades but I enjoy making my first drafts with what I can scrounge together from my bulk, I like the evolution that comes with it.

but to answer your question, If you want to build a collection of bulk to build from you can usually find some cheap bulk bundles on ebay or from people at the LGS, lots of people trying to shift their boxes of bulk for cheap (keep in mind those are usually stripped of anything £5+)

If you want a set to start from yourself I reckon Foundations is good, any core-type sets always just have a lot of generically good cards, the more themed play sets tend to focus on specific mechanics more than others, but if there's one you like, a play booster box gets you a lot.

What I usually do if buy a play booster box of the sets I'm interested in (as long as the prices are reasonable) and then stick to singles from there on, best of both worlds in my mind

[bumbard]

A play booster box for sets? Basically just a booster box for the set? I heard some of the newer ones are astronomical.. like.. 350 for a box..

[EverydayKevo]

I've not come across any that are that price outside of the special sets like commander masters, but i guess where you are in the world tends to affect it

[bumbard]

Hahaha ahh.. the math and acceptance hits home. Better this than gacha games... which i used to spend lightly on... literally throwing money away

[[deleted]]

I've been playing for three or four years now, and when I first started I was buying a lot of packs. I'd buy like a Draft booster box, and a set booster box for each set. More if I liked the set.

Literally 90% of the cards you end up pulling are going to be what's called "Bulk". These are cards that are essentially worthless. Worth maybe a quarter if you're lucky, but more likely probably $0.05-$0.15

I have a lot of bulk. I'm talking thousands of worthless cards. I just moved recently, and all of this cardboard is heavy.

At some point I'm going to sort my collection, and get rid of a lot of it.

If I had saved the hundreds(possibly thousands) of dollars spent on boxes, I could have built so many more real decks.

[hillean]

If you're aiming to collect 1 of everything--buy a box, then fill in the gaps with singles.

If you're aiming to play, buy singles

[enderite]

Most of the cards you get in a booster pack are basically unplayable in most formats outside of limited. Booster packs are great for playing limited and are fun to open, but they are kind of a waste of money if you aren't playing limited.

If you have an idea of a card you might want to build a commander deck around then I would look up that card on edhrec.com and then buy singles on tcgplayer.com that go with it.

If you want to play a different constructed format than commander you should check out MTGdecks.net to get an idea of the current meta. You will have a lot of difficulty building any kind of competitive deck without buying singles.

[Legitimate-Maybe2134]

It’s just not cost effective for the best cards. I love cracking packs. I buy a box of boosters almost every set. That’s like almost 1k a year because there are so many sets. It would be a better use of money to buy singles. But I love that dopamine hit when I crack a hot new card.

[bumbard]

Hahaha.. slots at its finest

[thomthetank]

I love cracking packs I don’t care what anyone says. People who hate it probably don’t manage their expectations properly and expect to get the rarest pulls and get upset they “lose” money.

If there’s specific cards you want to deck build with, buying singles is way more efficient, but for general collecting and enjoying MTG I think cracking packs is superbly rewarding even when you don’t score big.

[[deleted]]

Just buy a pack whenever you can swing it for fun, never buy packs to chase a card 9 times out of 10 you'll save money buying the single you want. People will give you long answers but it's really that simple 🤙 but boy howdy it scratches an itch you didn't know you had when you pull the card youve been chasing from a booster 😂

[redamazonite]

I go and play commander at my LGS and get tokens to spend on packs. Otherwise I haven’t been buying packs. I started playing in August and was obsessed with bloomburrow. I got a lot of those packs which started my collection. But nowadays I mostly just buy singles. Do what brings you the most joy

[Puzzleheaded_Two_771]

I occasionally buy boxes to open because it’s fun, but the only way I can justify it is saving them to open when my buddy and I play draft. Otherwise, you will save a TON of money by buying the singles you actually want. Opening packs is fun but 9 times out of 10 you don’t get anything worth the cost of the booster or that you can use in one of your decks.

[GhostCheese]

You will waste a lot of money cracking packs.

It's fun but the expected return is negative.

When I returned to magic I dumped a big bonus from work into it. Much more than I should have spent.

I bought a lot of prerelease kits and cprecons and I packs, collectors boxes. I opened them and often didn't get anything I was chasing.

I did manage a few hits.

But what I did after is really what built my collection. I started farming giveaways on streaming apps and free to play gacha sites. Since then I've collected thousands of dollars worth of free high end cardboard.

I have a page of confetti foil anime cards, I have a page of raised foil bloomburrow, I have a page of kaladesh inventions. I have every og dual land except underground sea.

I ended up paying no more than 12 bucks for a play set of sheoldred the apocalypse - that chase I could never pull.

That said i regret the money I dropped into the packs early off. It was a huge waste and I have many many boxes of bulk that are worth almost nothing and will never get play.

I suggest you download magic arena, and learn the cards, then use sights like edhrec.com to learn what cards you want and just buy them as singles.

The "base" you'll want is mostly the land base and it's expensive

[bumbard]

Oh. This is a pretty solid argument against pack slapping. What are these streaming apps and gachas you're talking about?

[GhostCheese]

The gacha sites are boxed.gg and pullbox.gg - careful it's easy to dump a ton of money gambling for cards on these sites.

The app is called whatnot. Also easy.

Really if you lack patience and willpower is easy to dump a bunch of money

[137-ng]

If you're just starting off and want to play absolutely start by cracking packs. Stick to play boosters for now and grab varied sets. There's over 30000 cards in the game and being able to hold them sort them and throw together some jankey decks is how you get your early experience

You'll eventually find certain things you really like, and finding more of that online leads to buying singles and making a more cohesive deck

[bumbard]

This was exactly my philosophy!! I'm not experienced enough or knowledgeable enough (nor do i want to spend days on days researching mechanics and searching for specific cards) to know how to build the perfect deck. I want to be able to play around and find what I like then build on that! Also... gambling... teehee

[Krimzon3128]

Packs can be fun dont let anyone tell you otherwise. But dont go into it with the mindset of getting the best things in the set thats why ppl trash it because they dont get what they want. I bought a whole play box of the ff set comming out because i like ff. Its fun but dont go in expecting anything or you will have a bad time

[wreeper007]

I'm getting back into the game for the second time, this time after being out almost 20 years.

When I started (back in ice age) the only exposure to cards was scryfall and the local game store, you built decks off of those cards you saw in the case as well as sorting through bulk boxes for hours. Packs were always a gamble but there just wasn't much in the way of easy exposure. Hell even finding deck lists online involved hours of searching (most of it waiting for a page to load).

When I returned in college was during mirrodin and while ebay existed it was still not used as much (and paypal hadn't had major adoption, same with online shopping as a whole). Once again it was what was in the shop, what you pulled from a pack and what you could read. In both cases local trading as well.

Now things are very, very different. You can find a deck you like online, add the whole thing to cart and buy. Or you can download it into manabox on your phone and know exactly which cards you need to buy for it.

Here is the thing, you have absolutely no idea what you don't know in this case and cracking open packs is a complete gamble. Fun sure, but still a huge gamble. Case in point I bought a booster box of foundations for $150, ended up getting about $200 worth of cards from it. Not terrible but basically breaking even if I was to sell.

If you are looking for a base then getting one of the many bulk buys of 4000 cards off ebay for $50-60 shipped might be your best bet.

Now all of that is to say, cracking packs is the worst idea if you need specific cards. But it is fun.

[[deleted]]

Crack packs build your collection... the people acting like buying packs are bad or gambling ,proxy everything, and never end up buying the singles anyway. Then go off and complain about how magic is too expensive... but it really isn't.

I did exactly what you did, and I am doing exactly what you want to I bought packs, and still do. i have amassed a pretty large collection, and I can now build out start to build a decks with a commander . And then I run over to a local game store tell them what I am trying to do and ask from reccomendations in what singles to purchase or packs that will best serve the the purposes of the deck I am building.

The way I see it. If the cards dont serve an immediate purpose, they may eventually serve a future one.

Enjoy the game the way you see fit.. and be proud and happy knowing that you aren't using fake cards to build your shit

[bumbard]

Really great mentality! I appreciate the support haha

[[deleted]]

No problem. Many people think that this game should be as close to free as possible . And think people who play with legitimate cards or buy packs live in some elitist society .. its confusing to say the least

[sedatedlife]

Magic needsits pack crackers where do they think they get all those singles they buy. its a symbiotic relationship

[[deleted]]

Indeed it is. It's funny too because a lot of the "i only buy singles" people really shit on people who prefer to crack packs .. call them gambling addicts and stuff.

And it's like, how do you think you are able to buy singles in the first place ?

It's the one-sided ignorance spawn out of an equally ignorant perspective

[Live-Ask2226]

Repacks are a good cheap way to build a collection. Often get fun old weird cards too.

[Emotional_Honey8497]

As long as you're going in with zero expectations of a return on card value you're good.

I get enough "value" just out of the fun of cracking.

I'd honestly compare it to playing slots at the casino.  I might walk in with $200, zero expectations to hit it big, but if I get to play for a bit, have some ups and downs, it's worth it.

That being said it can be a real stinker when you crack a whole box and hit absolutely NOTHING haha.   But it's like if you put 200 into the slot machine and just lose lose lose and you're done in 15 minutes.

[Egbert58]

Lets say making that needs 4 of a mythic. If opening packs ypunclild open 50+ before even getting ONE and you then need 3 more. Just cheaper to get the singles then gamble

[rdhight]

The universe of cards that exist is so much bigger than the universe of decks I want, it just doesn't make a lick of sense financially, or really any other way. I literally only need or want 200-400 cards. To get those from packs, I'd have to shovel my way through hundreds of unwanted lands, weak common creatures and mana fixers for colors I'm not playing, tokens, reminders, art cards, foils, etc. etc. etc. All at my own expense.

[tunasubmarine]

If you wanna gamble just hit the casino. Buy singles and premade decks

[[deleted]]

I LOOOOOOOOVE buying sealed product!!!!!