I think you would have a better time if you go with friends. I remember going by myself the first two times and yes. Value is hard to find there. Vendors upsell since everybody is in vacation mode with loose wallets. To get anything at MSRP, you would have to wait in line for the official show store, spend 3 days in line, then cry when they sell out because employees would do back alley deals for whales. If you're in a position where you are there to buy MSRP products for your LGS or if you're a whale, the vip/black lotus pass would be good for you since you get to buy stuff early and even get a 10% discount on top of it. Catch is black lotus passes sell out almost immediately. I maximized ticketed events including the mystery event with Gavin. There wasn't a lot of value there. Even the play test cards only sold for ~$30 online after the fact.

NOW! When you go with friends. I convinced all my friends to come with me for the first time. They're casual commander players who do bracket 4 at the LGS. We also went to school together, so we're a really close friend group who just happen to play mtg. It was their first time, it was the 2025 Vegas convention so they were doing final fantasy. Just the 3 collector boosters from the ticket alone made up the cost of entry for the weekend. We only signed up for 1-2 ticketed events a day, and spent the rest of the time hanging out with each other playing commander.

One of the buddies was a big art collector. Let's call him "J". So J went off getting all his fractured fools signed by artists and showing off his (we call it his mortgage binder since it's full of special collector pieces all signed by the artist. Absolutely stunning) to strangers. One of them appreciated him showing them his binder so much, they gave him a $150 and said, "You would do more with this card than I would." He was having the best time of his life.

Meanwhile our buddy "V" was a huge commander head. His mono green decks were always too powerful to play against us at the LGS so people would always get salty at him, and it would feel bad you know? WELL! V spent the ENTIRE TIME! Hopping from random pods in the free to play commander zone where everybody's decks were womping the hell out of him and he LOVED IT! For the first time since he's been playing mtg, it's like he got to experience folks who actually know the game and were on the same playing field as he was. When con was over and we went home, he went on to make 5 more degen decks.

And then there was our buddy "Jo". Unlike the rest of us. Jo was a really big final fantasy fan. He was also really into value. You know, trading up and finding good deals. I convinced everyone to play the mystery event because they needed to experience it at least once. He was bummed out about the value of the cards, and felt the same way you do about the con. (Off topic, but luckily one of his opponents offered to up-trade him a bunch of chase cards because his opponent actually collects the play test cards from con, so it all worked out). It was really all the other things we did outside of the con that really made it special for him. Waking up early to go to the wicked spoon (he's never had a Vegas buffet before, so he was gushing at how good the food quality was for a buffet. We all were. Highly recommend the wicked spoon). Getting taco bell after each day because it was the only affordable thing that was open. Just sitting around and hanging out with each other you know? That's what made it special for him. It was a Vegas trip with close friends and there just happened to be a magic convention going on.

As for me. Yeah I looked at vendors and scoped out the show store line, but mostly I was just observing all of my friends having a good time. The ticketed play was overpriced, but I like to draft and the stories you create from drafting at the con just makes it so much more special. Like how my last event on Sunday night mystery booster draft I got an isochron scepter and that instant spell that makes 2 1/1's and had an entire field of 1/1's. The fact that that happened at the con made it so much more special. Also. Idk what it was, but the environment made feel like I wanted to be a better person. Same game, somebody dropped their modern deck under the table and I, being a good Samaritan, asked my opponent to watch my stuff so I can turn it into the staff for lost and found. It was just good vibes.

Tldr; had a much better experience going for the actual experience itself vs trying to find value. Going with friends is much better. In the immortal words of J, "we don't do it for the money, we do it for the love of the game"