How To Make Collector Booster Packs Worth It | A Magic: The Gathering Critique 

I absolutely love everything you suggested in this video. Have u sent these suggestions directly to wotc? Or someone at wotc? Like gavin?

you've got an editing hiccup at 13:25, btw

Thanks Professor, truly an analysis from somebody who really loves the game! Sadly the truth lies in the cynical fact that WOTC doesn’t love the game, they love money (sighs). They do not want to sell more packs per sets, they want to print the same amount cards spread in more sets, charging more for each, knowing scarcity would do the rest despite quality!

I believe that we should use a different term than "luxury" and "premium" when referring to magic products. Whenever you make a purchase of something traditionally labeled as a "luxury" or "premium" purchase, that almost always implies that you're paying for a guarantee of a higher quality product or experience. WOTC is peddling a cardboard loot box / gacha game at this point - there's literally nothing "premium" about their pack-cracking gambling experience.

Most magic cards are of less value than post-crash NFTs.

@@blaze556922 except when u leave ur deck in your pants pocket and put it in the wash XD

honestly? that would be MORE acceptable IMO, but as it is instead of pay-to-win, it's...... pay...for.... pay Wizards money!!!!

I mean the game has always been pay to win and its always been kind've awful. But seriously the whole way theyre handling the monetization right now is just horrible.

@@blaze556922 considering the immense powercreep *cough, Ragovan cough* you really can't play with most cards for life if you have any intention of winning.

pay to style? pay to curl??

That's where you're wrong - most counterfeits are better quality than the real deal

Turns out they were

It was a con alright 😂

Its even worse more recently. This last set, new capenna collector boxes are such shit quality. The ink is so dark on the land foils that swamps forests and islands can be impossible to distinguish

With all respect buying cards at a con is begging to be scammed 😭

The theoretical payoff would be that pack sales would increase. That said, I’m not ENTIRELY sure that would happen.

How do they already not have this!?!?! I was under the assumption they were in all packs! Jesus…

wowwww. I would kind of hate this because I would actually spend money on this game again hahah

Yeah most premium services company's offer ALWAYS offer everything that the lower tiers had. Stupid greedy wizards

I was thinking that it was unrealistic to expect new art of the list cards. But what I do think would be good enough (and easily doable) is a guaranteed card from the list in foil.

Pfft, at these prices they should include a card from the RESERVED list.

It’s too bad it’s not in collectors boosters just set and you can’t get a guilded foil of it

Absolutely! If the "draft packs" were lottery tickets and whatever high value option cut the lottery Aspect out (at least partly), that'd be an acceptable level of extortion.

Wont make a difference. Rudy and his army of whales will buy

I have. Haven't bought magic stuff in 2 years or so now due to issues like this and some of their other recent decisions.

Its not Wiz bro its Hasbro's greedy ass.

Gross! Counterspell is cheaper and doesn't have the bs power creep.

@@bodaciouschad lol my friend that is some ancient power creep

@@lambdaman256 *looks at an Alpha Black Lotus* “Fucking power creep wtf Wizards”

@@bodaciouschad It's fun when new players pretend to be old players.

@@bodaciouschad power creep? Mana drain is like 25 years old lmao

I'd rather have a dozen full art foil lands over a dozen jank commons anyways. I'll actually use the lands.

You don’t understand supply and demand. If we take what you said and load the packs with those lands, then the overall value of them goes down. If they go down, then at that point, you can just buy the singles and avoid needing to buy Collector Boxes.

@@Invictus-Solaris your comment somehow makes 0 sense. He's literally saying to replace commons, which can be bought with spare change, with the unique lands. Supply and demand has nothing to do with those slots as the commons are abundant and mostly undesired. Where as many players I know, including myself, hold onto foil lands for fun.

@@CyniSchism96 Thanks Joshua I agree completely. And both basic lands and commons should both be pennies, I don't know anyone who shells out cash for basic lands, fancy art or not. And I don't think the land slot is the main driver for people buying collector packs so this should not impact the demand for those packs if there is an abundance of foil basics

​@@CyniSchism96 Supply and demand is absolutely a factor. Full art lands used to be special and they aren't anymore. Theros had 2 foil full art lands in their $25 packs and the lands plummeted to .50 each at launch. If Wizards wants to justify the price to the customer in their mind they need to have better than .50 full art lands, and the Kamigawa lands are still a couple bucks each in foil. It makes a huge difference. In summary, one full art land per pack at $2.00 value is better than two full art lands at .50 value. as far as Wizards is concerned because Wizards is concerned with them selling off shelves. You as a player would rather have four .50 cent lands for 2.00; and so would I, but I am going to see less value in buying the packs which makes me less likely to purchase them. If everyone got 7 full art foil basics in every collector booster peple would start giving them away, and it would make half the booster value-less AND ruin what's left of the illusion of reprint equity in wizards pockets when it comes to adding full art lands to a product.

There's even a way to fix these - have showcase frame versions of the commander deck cards in those slots! A showcase frame version of the face commanders is something a lot of people want, and would be a really exciting pull / a desirable collector's item!

I am a commander player and I fully agree with you

People wanted cards to be cheap and worthless so this is what you get

Or a gilt frame uncommon.....

@@ozmond exactly. People want cards to play, but also want their cards to be expensive. All cards can’t be expensive and easily obtainable. That’s not how supply and demand works lol.

Yes that is how every tcg works yes.

Your lootbox isn't not a lootbox just because it's wrapped in foil.

Or people who just like gambling. Don't get me wrong, there isn't nearly enough warnings on M:tG to imply they aren't hoping to tap into the "market" of gambling addicts, but if Gacha games have taught me anything, I would much rather there be much fewer cards in a set if every rare or mythic was actually something special and unique. I only need one copy of a 5 star, and even if it's not the one I wanted it's still a valuable addition because one day I might have a use for that specific pull. (although, I also think M:tG as a game might be improved if it used the rarity system from Magic: Duels, 1 copy per mythic, 2 copies/rare, 3 copies/uncommon, 4 copies/common. Card design alone would probably improve, if cause the game to be more "swingy").

This is why we call it cardboard crack after all. The problem is they don't even try to fix quality issues with collector's boosters which is why I don't touch them. I would rather get a set booster for my dopamine hit. Still a bit of a con but at a much easier to swallow price point.

@@marekvincibr5884 It's not how tcg's are meant to work at all. Packs are meant to provide cards to play a game. Designing "premium products" costing hundreds of dollars for shiny cardboard with no production value at all is designed purely to target whales with gambling addiction and absolutely no one else. I love magic and make a lot more money than the average person, I would have a premium product from a game I love. But it's not me they're targeting here.

If you check the box, it says that the gilded foils were made at the Japan factory.

@@truecrios Why can they get it right in Japan and not in the States ?

Can only think it comes down to what qualifies as quality control within each territory/country. I live in South Africa, so the majority of our products come from the Belgium factory and we have almost no foil curling or quality issues. However, some of our products only get imported from the States, like the majority of the original collector boosters, and our LGS's definitely notice the almost immediate difference in quality.

Thanks for that feedback. I think ill look for those boxes from those regions instead of going for the ones here. Im in the States

They really should just remove "collector" and add "whale"

The unopened boxes are worth more than the cards inside.

Pretty much. Never buy a product that claims to be a collectible from the start.

Which is exactly why the Professor's solution will also fail. It will just make the new special versions worth nothing even further devaluing the collector booster instead of enhancing it. Rarity and demand are what create value not spending more to create something.

Conversely, the fact that collectors' boosters are filled with worthless commons and uncommons makes the experience a lot less special... You're basically paying for one lottery card, plus a bunch of filler that doesn't need to be there.

I would love love love the inside scoop on running a cardshop. I actually tried opening once in highschool just order cards at cost for my playgroup and got denied because I didn't have a real physical store. I still never understand why they cost so much and what the stores upsell them as

My biggest problem with booster packs and every set these days, is that there is just to much Commander only cards in it.

Well their in the billion dollar profit club now the government likely taxes the heck out of wotc, for making luxury collectables and probably not much tax write offs with all that non recyclable materials used but I don't know truely. Magic has always been a game of chance though, even back to alpha edition. Where a kid can get a 5$ pack and hope to crack some cool card, but because it's cool not because of it's lottery value. See kids aren't likely price checking cards their cracking open at the same time while as adults we seek financial value confirmation on cards often it seems

I meant from a consumer standpoint, in terms of what we get.

@@TolarianCommunityCollege Oh I understand what you meant 100%. My (granted, sarcastic/abstracted) point was that I'm not sure they really care that much, as long as people buy them in their current form, WotC will continue to push as far as they can get away with.

@@TolarianCommunityCollege we get fleeced- just as WOTC intended.

@@bodaciouschad If you truly believe you are getting fleeced, don't buy it. If you buy it anyway, that's entirely on you. No one is forcing you do buy anything.

@@michaelrudolph7003 I buy only singles for 0.05$ each at the local great escape. The most a piece of cardboard is worth to me is 3$. The most I'd pay for a pack is 3$.

Whenever I feel the urge to buy one, I watch an opening video and then my interest in buying one myself quickly diminishes because 9 out of 10 packs I would've been sad to have payed for

I bought a MH2 booster as a birthday present for myself (it was even discounted) and womp womp- opened maybe 1 card worth 2$. Spending 40 to get...pretty much nothing playable felt terrible.

@@billdoetsch then you just felt for the bait, opening boosters is like gambling. We try to fool ourselves about the 'fun' to open one but the disappointment stick around way longer tbh.

Sometimes an overreaction might be necessary. I see what the Professor is doing here as speaking up for those who aren't even aware of the collector's boosters lack of value, instead of merely convincing them. I think almost everyone would agree that they should be better, but many wouldn't know WHY that is. (In which case it wouldn't really be an overreaction, but I digress.) Having a reaction is better than none, otherwise WoTC will just keep shrugging their shoulders and keep pumping out low quality products.

Just wait till separate counties start to fine or even threat to ban WotC for these practices which in this case could be picked under gambling.

No I didn’t ….. lol

Guy stole 3 collectors packs and still somehow got ripped off 😂

@@brunopintaric8997 upside down Risk vs Reward

Only 3? Slow day.

The guy at Walmart isn’t stealing them from Wizards of the coast or Walmart directly. They have already been paid for by MJ holdings and they are the group taking a loss in this equation as Walmart only pays for what’s tang through the till. Around here it is all locked up in security devices and they font’s carry any of the higher end products because of thieves….

and as Rudy said, they were STILL underpriced...

@@sawdatstyle Rudy is one of the people responsible for this shitshow in the first place.

Recently got back into magic and legit considered maybe getting a collector booster for kamigawa but after knowing that the best I'll be getting is just extra shinnies, buying the bulk draft pre release packs is a way better idea

When they first came out I bought one for shits and giggles and then had a serious shock at the checkout line when I saw the price. Wasn't even close to worth it for me

I tried a few, not happy. Not enough value for the cost. Went to set booster boxes and they paid for 75% of themselves and I made commander decks out of it.

I just started with midnight hunt.I bought 2,along with a lot of other Magic products I didn't need.Muktuple color,set,and draft boosters. About 20 or so prerelease kits,8 commander bundles(all of which suck except the AFR deacon precons).I've determined Magic is a sinkhole.Best advice,be patient,by singles,and trade.Dont chase cards likee me😳 I have over 6000 cards, and he collector boosters all sucked.My best cards came from AFR gift bundle(with collector booster),midnight hunt gift bundle,and prerelease kits. My packs and purchased boxes were busy tbh.

Tell that to Commander Legends full art foils.

Use that money to buy all the borderless foils from this set that you want

Buying boosters that are that expensive will allow Wizards to continue pushing the prices up and the quality/quantity down. Please buy what you want in singles and don’t support the scam!

@@jonlangthorne7924 If I buy singles I support the people opening the pack. You can't buy the product and boycott the product at the same time.

@@ruecianbeoulve7770 There is a balance, stores crack product to sell expensive singles and make a profit in that way. It’s players cracking box after box after box that causes the profits to climb higher each time.

​@@jonlangthorne7924 All money put into the system increases sales. Stores won't crack boxes to sell singles, or will do it less if it's less profitable. If everyone only buys singles and suddenly the singles prices will be so high stores will just crack the sealed product they can't sell to this illusion of a boycott and sell the singles. WOTC got paid soon as they shipped it out to the distributor your store stocked it from. There's definitely a balance, but it all funnels back into making wizards see profit in what they did. Sad truth is we just have to be loud on the internet and in set reviews to WOTC because the people in the ivory tower don't hear the conversations in your LGS, and they don't know whether the kitchen table magic players are predominately buying up the set, or if Rudy and his patrons are burying them in time capsules. We all want some of what Wizards is offering, so we're all likely to give them some money; even when we're upset about it in some way (Commander Legend's terrible Collector Boosters had quality akin to Dead on Arrival HD TVs and not only did we all still buy them, they're the most expensive and desired on the secondary market), and that's why we complain online so much. Thank goodness we have the good Professor doing work for the people.

Problem is there is always someone who will buy them. I never liked collector boosters, even when they first launched, so I have never bought a single pack of them. Problem is at my LGS there are 3 whales that come in and clean house day one.

no best way is to report them to the FTC and other authorities asking to have them looked into. Not buying product does nothing, However indictments from the federal government sure will.

Same. I buy Draft boosters because set boosters are more expensive over here (12 vs 18 in my currency). I tried two-three set boosters and I ended with cheap mythics that had zero value both in game and on card market.

yep just buy singles

we started using proxies this year cause there is no way my friend or I are spending 100$+ for Lands ect.

@@simplyyunak3189 I've lowered the threshold on what I would proxy. I used to only proxy $10+ cards and mostly cards I already own. Now I proxy basic lands from Secret Lair because that is highway robbery.

as long as you own at lest one actual copy fine by me

They won't look nice though, and if I wanted something cheaper but functional I could just go for draft boosters, or better, singles from draft boosters. The proxy argument doesn't work for premium collectors versions of products.

Yes it does, for even cheaper, you can get nail polish remover and some different printing products and make your favorite card shiny. Just takes a few extra minutes.

@@tylernolod4681 I've made proxies this way, it's not just a few minutes and it's not going to look as good as a real card.

@@ruecianbeoulve7770 I agree. A better point to contend would be that a prospective collector booster buyer has the alternative of commissioning custom art alterations of standard versions of some desired cards from the set. If bling is desired, what can be anymore flashy than a unique, artful rendition which no one else has?

This has to be one of the weirdest whataboutisms I've seen. My guy he's not selling the product to you directly. You still have to go to the site which lists all those side effects. It's a simple ad read. This such a weird, moon brain take.

@@davidmcc9141 I guess, I just see it as someone criticizing the marketing strategies of big business for a card game from some self imposed moral high ground while simultaneously doing marketing for big pharma while conveniently leaving out the myriad possible negative side effects. Everyone sees shit differently, that's what's great about talking with other people

Admitting you are selling to be collected is the downfall of all collectibles 😂😂😂 look at history the only thing holding magic cards up is the game as that fails the cards fall into oblivion

This is a game first and foremost. The secondary market for standard SHOULD be cheap and accessible, since that's people's on ramp to the game. If you want investments, get a mutual index fund. It will out perform magic cards, and you can liquidate it without having to try and sell on an online marketplace.

@@Osk570 I'm just saying your cards should be at least close to the value of a pack. No one wants to hit lottery cards to break even. If it's game first and foremost and secondary market doesn't matter get rid of the reserve list and release full sets to be purchased like an expansion and not packs

@@zackcampbell1346 typical mtg player

I'm also a teacher trying to start a magic club at my school, and luckily these kids are fine playing with bulk rares I've got donated, but telling them about buying singles versus buying packs is hilarious, because buying singles just makes sense, even to children.

Imo, the only reason to buy magic cards is to draft. Every other magic format is inferior to a board game in every way.

@@bodaciouschad I only buy cards for draft, and when I play commander and modern I just proxy my decks cause the prices are impossible to justify