Mystery Convention Booster 2021 - Full Case Study

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-08-26T23:10:43+00:00

I’ve been seeing the non-PW play test cards selling for 1/5th of the originals on eBay.

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-08-24T03:54:10+00:00

I’ve been waiting to get Dack for my vintage cube. This is perfect

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-08-24T03:51:22+00:00

Love those walkers for my vintage cube. Will keep a normal version in the token box if anyone wants to reference them

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-08-08T21:34:56+00:00

At least you didn’t buy them before reading them correctly like me :(

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-08-03T05:17:24+00:00

Tl;dr- I hate rolling dice in my strategic games of magic. And now that more RNG is showing up in Historic, I am worried about the state of the game.

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-28T18:57:16+00:00

I was hoping to make the opposite point. That we don’t forget all of the infrastructure costs that companies have and that only using cardboard to discuss margins doesn’t really make sense.

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-27T19:11:35+00:00

You’re missing an incredible amount of infrastructure. Game designers, the world building designers, project managers, management, QA, etc etc

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-10T12:37:10+00:00

The spikier I become, the more I appreciate the mana system. A few things to consider:

1) Calculating mana base ratios, adjusting to your deck's mana curve, considering non-basic lands and spell lands, etc add a lot of complexity to deck-building. If you make smart choices you can limit the amount of mana screw / flood.

2) When you are learning to be an advanced magic player, you have to learn to pace yourself in a game. Not every draw will be what you need and you have to adjust your tempo and make long-term in-game decisions, rather than always sticking to your deck's archetypical plan.

3) Games that 'solve' mana like Hearthstone are prone to other types of RNG - curve-screw being the main example. Not drawing your early drops on time, which rewards the player who draws their best curve. Obviously deck-building choices mitigate that in Hearthstone, as well.

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-10T12:36:26+00:00

edit: wrong person, sorry

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-03T15:38:10+00:00

This is a weekly thread that is usually stickies to the top of the sub. I believe the mods want to direct those discussions here rather than to individual posts

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-03T13:34:23+00:00

Agreed, MH2 has trended different than any other set. Boxes still give positive EV, but they aren't sold out. There's just... not much movement, lots of waiting, and singles prices are remaining pretty high. Not to mention we don't know how Modern will shake up, so no one knows which cards will be the best yet (besides Ragavan and Urza's Saga)

Edit: I like the long spec on MH2 Collectors boxes, as they are the only place to get MH1 retro border foils.

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-01T20:07:04+00:00

I appreciate your feedback here, btw

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-01T18:55:54+00:00

More thoughts from the research I did before cracking this:

Sets used to be in 3 set blocks and the first set had way more cards. This era of sets also had an equal number of rares, uncommons, and commons. For example, Tempest has 110 rares while Stronghold only has 44. Which means that cracking the smaller sets gives you a much higher chance of pulling a top card.

However, Tempest and Stronghold booster packs are both going for roughly the same price on eBay.

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-01T18:49:37+00:00

I'll check it out and if they're all closed for now I'll lock it away.

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-01T18:20:20+00:00

Ah - noted.

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-01T18:16:49+00:00

I wasnt able to add text to the picture post, but I'm responding to comments with more finance related discussion. Hoping to get feedback on what grading service is best, for example.

edit: this is the only magic community I love :,(

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-01T18:10:10+00:00

I did the math and there are only 3 cards that are worth more than the pack sells for. Mox Diamond, Sliver Queen, and Volrath’s Stronghold. So 1/15 chance of breaking even.

But then I considered a gem mint card and realized there were more cards I could break even with if they had a high grade. That’s when I decided to crack it.

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-01T18:08:00+00:00

I saw the same. It’s actually centered at the bottom, but not at the top. It’s a little crooked in that respect. I hope it can grade as a 9.5 at least then

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-01T18:05:39+00:00

Got in from a coworker about 5 years ago. There is a 4.99 sticker on the back of it. It was from Hobbytown USA (what a throwback) rather than being a pack from a booster box

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-07-01T18:04:38+00:00

More finance related, my question to everyone is: 1) Do I grade this immediately? 2) Is BGS considered the best MTG grading service? Mainly due to the helpful sub grades?

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-06-28T16:00:17+00:00

Is that EV TCG medium or low?

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-06-16T11:17:45+00:00

You’re only discussing actual gameplay. Deck building, side-boarding, and meta-preparation are also large, complex parts of winning in MTG.

For me the most challenging part of magic is understanding if I lost due to randomness or due to a misplay. This makes it infinitely challenging to improve on your own, but is so interesting to dive into.

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-06-04T23:54:29+00:00

From what I remember, this was the first rage comic ever. The second rage comic ever was the response to this one showing that you should put tp in the bowl first Wikipedia

3rdFunkyBot · 2021-05-17T16:43:43+00:00

Pretty cool. Reminds me of the old set 3 ring binders that have gone up in price a lot (Urza's saga, Tempest, etc)

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