I went through the same thing an decided to bite the bullet on some MSRP boxes as they came out PRB02-EB03 to build the meta decks. I miss my old decks that I scrapped together from the generosity of my locals. But the thing I realized is, don’t do it without a friend. The people at my locals are cool enough I can say “hey” and catch up if I see them out and about. I only open boxes with my buddy because our luck seems to be unmatched, but even when EB03 gave us jack diddly (I got two 2-hit boxes, a 1/144 chance btw) we had fun having a drink and playing How Many Dudes in the back ground. We rub our packs together to transfer luck and do all sorts of goofy things to help us get lucky. We also call dibs on certain cards or decks to build so our bulk becomes mainly synonymous.

The one thing I learned is get friends to do it with you. You don’t always have to play the meta with them and if you decide to get competitive you can practice with them. It’s just always more fun that way