Is It Worth It To Buy A Set Booster Pack / Box? A Magic: The Gathering Product Review 

"I don't care. I don't like commons or uncommons." Prof reveals his true feelings about pauper XD

The "Signed Art" cards really feel like an Upper Deck move. It's like while having the meeting to justify a higher price point someone said "What if we took inspiration from baseball cards?"

A good way to improve "the list" could be, instead of putting bad cards as "duds", putting pauper staples in their place. Some cards, like Moment's Peace, Tangle, and Preordain, are not expensive, but really hard to find due to the lack of reprints

The thing that grinds my gears is the "advertisement card", the tokens already have an advertisement on their back, why there are double faced advertisements? This has nothing to do specifically with the set booster, but the existence of "The list" just make it more egregious...

Many magic the gathering players ask the question "why are we taught math in school?" This is why.

"Holy Statistical Analysis Batman! That's a lot of math!" *fires up the excel spreadsheet*

Glad we have a professor to explain the absolute headache that is this booster set.

Nobody appreciates enough the fact that the Professor is offering us percentages... Being an English Mayor. 🙌🏻

I definitely like the idea of a “commander” slot, that would definitely be something I’d be interested in.

Life hack: Use the art cards as proxies in your playgroup

i was actually pretty excited about the art cards, because they’re printing art cards of the lands, which i can use as weird lands for my commander decks.

This hurts my head. I'm just gonna stick to buying singles.

I really like *some* of the art cards as tokens. The new Jace’s art card makes a great copy token. And land art cards are perfectly legit lands when sleeved up!

Well, I for one love the art cards. They're one of my favorite parts of the whole thing. The main reason I even went to GPs in the before times, was to meet and interact with the artists, to get signatures and to buy prints and playmats.

But...I like art cards. I went around pre-releases and bought artist proofs and had them signed by the artist. I also like the Jumpstart theme cards. Getting a little full art card is cool.

My favorite set I'll say was Mirrodin, I loved when the artifact based set was released was such a game changer adding indestructible to so many things.

"The List" chance is adjustied for rarity, within the 25% chance for a List card, is an adjusted %to get rare/mythic-getting a valuable List card is extremely low, more like under 1%

I kind of like the art cards, tbh, they remind me of collectable cards, have use as tokens, and show how pretty the art is like the mini-prints they are

Professor: It's a massive gamble. Me: So your saying there's a chance.

"It IS possible." Yeah like we all thought it was possible to get two showcase mythics in VIP Masters like they said in the ads.

The List with this high variety of cards could be in every pack

As a devils advocate for art cards: wouldn't mind having some art cards acting as tokens (like jace) or as proxys/ stand ins for decks. (That nahiri looks nice imo)

My local gamestore--the best place to shop--is selling Set Booster Boxes for the same price as a draft booster box.

This is fantastic content with a great amount of information. Everything you compiled is good to know and just so smart to share with others. Thank you for your work!

I'm going to get at least a box of these because I'm really interested in the art cards. From what I've seen, they look fantastic. The List is pretty intriguing to me too, but I mean, let's get real...most of these can be obtained as singles for a lot cheaper than if you're buying a box. Also, 41 R/M out of 30 packs isn't too bad IMO. My LGS is pre-ordering these for $130 apiece which is, I think, a pretty fair deal.

Unglued is still one of my favorite sets. Because I used to play back in the 90's and when I've played back, this set was the big rage. And it was putting the fun back in magic.

I want to collect those art cards. I love the Horizons one. I want them all. I wanted them framed and put on my wall.

I find it actually amazing that they included half-frame Wastes in The List

Prof, there's some really good potential with the art cards. My play group has started using the MH art cards of lands as proxy lands. Both MH sword of X and Y are a bit pricey, and so are the lands, so this has been a really good way to proxy cards in a less questionable way.

A week or so ago I preordered a Set Booster Box from a game store located in Texas for ~$184 I knew that it was a little expensive, but it will be my first ever booster box AND even in these trying times I wanted (albeit through a third party) to support a game store. I recently received a message from them talking about the sort supply, which I did know about, but I told them that it was no big deal and that I was really excited and happy to wait for the box. I cannot tell you how my heart felt when they replied saying thank you for helping us keep our store open. It really made my day, although when I sent my message to them I did say I wanted a reply back... so I dunno if they were trying to say something as I had marked that I wanted a reply which I didn't really need on. But either way even if I overpaid a bit there are a few reasons why I'm okay with it.

Thanks for putting out all the content you do, Prof. I always appreciate that no matter what is going on in Magic, you're gonna have a video on it. Hope you are safe this weekend.

I'm most impressed with how quickly your hair grows back, Professor. Can you teach me?

Ahh yes, this video like all others you post have reminded me to just freaking buy singles. This is a headache.

You don't have a clue how much your videos help me when I'm about to buy something. Here in brazil things are crazy and the dolar is really expensive, so everything of magic is extremely expensive and I can't afford the risks of opening a box to see what I would get, so when you do the box review, i can see what looks like a opening box and be confident that buying the singles will be better. Love your job, you are amazing.

The Professor: "I don't care about commons" Pauper Players: In response, I'm sad

"As have absolutely worthless cards..." >Two of the three cards shown are from Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Why do you have to hurt me like this?

"2 ncommon" Now prof....

I can only assume that if set boosters are successful we may start seeing them in bundles as they are more designed to be opened for value than drafted.

I just picked myself up 10 packs, 3 packs had a card from 'this list and 1 pack...I struck gold. My first rare was a full art variant of the new RW flip land, a foil of a black rare demon and a land tax, it felt great. The rest of the packs were still fine even if nothing special. At the end of the day 10 packs got me 13 rares and 2 mythic I think this is an enjoyable alternative pack to offer, not as expensive as the collector packs but still have good stuff worth the extra buck 30 to me

It's like I'm reading my chances in a casino.

Thank you for having the numbers run. It will help decide if I should buy a box or individual cards.

Well, yea. It's got mystery booster in it

Thanks Prof. That Set Booster breakdown, at face value, was crazy confusing. Feeling a lot more informed now.

Quite possibly the one video I was waiting for the most these last months.

Hey, Professor, I’m a Yugioh player who likes to follow the content of other games, so I love your material. Watching this video has really made me glad that Konami (of all companies) has an excellent reprint policy that enables accessibility for players over time in pretty clear ways. Packs have guaranteed holographic cards in every pack for most sets, with some sets having upwards of 5 holographic cards of various types in each pack, and while not all of these will hold value as a result, Konami makes up for this by releasing sets fairly frequently that contain serious reprints of many of the most important cards of yugioh’s current meta game *and* casual/rogue decks. Yugioh unfortunately does not have any real good draft sets due in great part to the archetypal nature of the game, but constructed feels great for players of all types. Both budget and nonbudget players have access to a variety of decks both competitive and casual, and due to the absence of a set rotation, these decks stay usable over the years. A budget player might have picked up 3 Dinosmasher’s Fury structure decks in 2016 to play competitive, and might still be playing a very similar list with periodic support added in, while the nonbudget player might take this deck and play the most up-to-date expensive competitive staples in every format over the same amount of time, but both players purchased a deck that they could use guaranteed for years to come. Sorry for the long message, I just like to look at the different ways card games can provide accessibility to players, and I’m glad to see Wizards is working towards this through their own mechanisms :)

so, is WotC done pretending that they aren't selling lottery tickets to children?

Great to see the commander for zendikar inthe back, looking forward for that review.

Last time i was this early, standard was still enjoyable

quick math lesson here: for the first 6 cards in every zendikar set bp= 2.22~ uncommon 3.78~ common hope this is useful

I like the art cards, definitely beats another worthless common or uncommon.

Thanks for making these crazy new boosters easier to grok prof!

Calculation, formulae, chances and probabilities, math, stats, give me your power! Oh, never mind, store in my country has only draft boosters available.

Thanks for these type of videos. They are so comprehensive and really help me understand the new set and products. These are my second favorite video format of yours, with The Booster Box Game being numero uno.

Love you prof! Keep up the amazing work.

Here in Germany, I can buy English or German Draft Booster boxes for 90€ and Set Booster boxes in both languages for 97€. That means the price difference per booster is only 0,73€ or 0,86$. From my calculations the pulls from the Set booster box the Professor opened in this video were quite average in terms of the odds, so he would have basically gotten 5 more rares/Mythics for only 7€ or 8,3$ more if he had bought the boxes in germany. Also he forgot to Mention that there is a 15% Chance for the land to be a foil, and that the commons and uncommons are each connected by a common theme, wich means you are more likely to pull the majority of cards of a certain mechanic or type from these boosters, and not randomly miss a certain card you want for your deck using that mechanic or type, and than have 10 copies of a different one. And apparently the signed art cards are received quite well, and are sold and bought for not to shabby of a price online. Together with the fact that you will always get a Foil and a Fullart/showcase card, even if it's not a rare or mythic, I think this makes these boosters a much better deal than regular draft boosters if you are not going to play draft, even if you only get the same amount of rares/Mythics as you would get in a draft booster box. At least here in germany, where they are not as expensive compared to the US or Draft boosters. But than again I just pulled 4 Mythics, one of which was foil, and a showcase rare out of the 6 draft boosters from a prerelease kit and the 2 extra ones I got as a price from the event (sealed), so I can't complain.

The word “common” has lost all meaning to me thanks to this video.

thanks for the details on drop chances thats exactly why ur my fav utube channel for magic content :) i bought one and im keen to see what i get.

Imagine getting a pack with a gold signed art card, 7 uncommons, 4 mythics, one of which being a foil, and a list card. (Also a mythic)

My favorite was guilds of Ravnica, because that's when me and a friend of mine decided to get into MTG once again. I still have the different guild decks like a board game box on the shelf behind my monitor

4:03 ah yes. They wildly unseen ncommon card have been released. And there were those that laughed at my thesis paper...

I love your channel I appreciate the time an work you put in for us the fans would love to meet you one day 🙌🏽

00:36 me going over set boosters with my lgs trying to understand how it pans out. I eventually just gave up and bought a regular box.

I will put my hand up as a magic player who loves the art cards, them being in these packs was what got me excited, far more than anything else. If you want to collect them all then yeah they can be gotten cheaply later, but it's a nice little bonus, something fun to look at, and just from a few people at my lgs many are just keeping a couple they open. I prefer the reason for set boosters Maro said in his video, not that they are for opening and just getting more of the cards you want, but they are designed to make the actual experience of opening a booster more exciting. These are designed to get the people who do just buy packs to crack because it's fun, and I think art cards are part of that

The one set booster I opened at my prerelease had 5 commons, 5 uncommons, a rare and a rare from the list, i thoughr that that was the general ratio since it was so perfectly aligned, but I guess it was just coincidence xD Also I got the lotus cobra art card which made me reeeaaally happy

While I was horribly hesitating between set and Booster packs boxes, you give your very expdained opinion about it ! Thanks a lot to be there, working to make clear the content Wotc, because they can't (they don't want to ?) do it by their own ! This video gave me a clear idea of how I should decide if I buy set or booster packs and if it was worth it ! Once again, thanks a lot ! A french Mtg player (And now I'm gonna post a comment on the yesterday video ^^)

I was literally just asking this question 🤣 I have a preorder at ~$130 and have been hovering that cancel button

I love the idea of the list and even the low value seemingly random reprints on it, but the 1/4 chance at a chance for a card you want on the list is another gate of randomness that ends in feelbads. I would like to see a guaranteed "List" spot.

One thing about the packs is the common/uncommon slots (at least according to what Mark Rosewater said) would be themed or grouped to help when you are building new decks. Less likely to get draft chaff. I don't know if it ended up being true but that was one of the selling points that he mentioned that interested me.

I actually really like art cards. I love magic art, but there's a limit to how many prints\playmates I can buy. It is also a relatively inexpensive way to scratch the collector itch.

I knew you'd set me straight on this stuff! Getting back into MTG with the new Kamigawa Neon Dynasty set.

We just dont care. -prof 2020

My local game store left these at a great price to me, just a bit more than a draft box. Always support your local shops. I love shivam, great perspective on the game.

So far I’m loving this set. I don’t care much for most of the “art cards” but I really enjoy the land art cards and plan on using as many as I can for my basics. (I pulled a gold signature Mountain art card and love it!)

I was waiting for this video. Thank you. Your opinion of value and "am I getting my money's worth" is really helpful. It does seem like most of the time it will be just another booster with less cards. But the odds of getting more rares really helps me. I was buying booster boxes up until recently when I realized that TCGPlayer is really reliable for buying the sets of cards I need as I am a person that plays standard. But seeing as how I still love the rush of pack openings, I would definitely rather have a Set Booster over a regular booster box. Also, the fetchlands pay for half the box anyway so 😂

I'd like to see the return of the purple "special" rarity symbol for List cards. I felt the same way about Mystery Boosters; solid way to release much-needed reprints, but not updating card text/types to their current Oracle wordings and keeping the original expansion symbols (presumably so WotC wouldn't have to pay someone for a weekend of photoshopping card image files) was just lazy.

I've pre-ordered (at £101) for 3 reasons: 1. the themed slots. I like the idea of opening up the packs and having synergistic cards ready to go. I'm curious to see if I can make a better sealed deck from say 7 or 8 packs compared with the normal 6 draft booster packs. 2. guaranteed foil card. I love shiny cards. Knowing I'm gonna get 30 new shiny cards is very exciting. 3. Covid is stopping me draft and I don't want to wait to crack packs and explore Zendikar, where I first entered the magic universe 11 years ago. Back then I only ever bought the fatpack and the pre release. This time round I even might get a draft box for when lockdown ends too...depending on how my set booster open spree goes.

I really dislike the name of set boosters, since they have cards that aren’t in the set in the list slot. They seem like a cheaper collectors booster, which is nice though.

Keep it up, Prof! 🙏🙏🙏 Love the insight and reviews of new and upcoming products!

I agree with you in that "The List" should be refined since it's not a guarantee like in the mystery booster packs where there was a slot that exclusively took from its own pseudo 'list'. And for me I think the set booster is worth it. Since I don't (read can't) really buy a booster box for every set that comes out and buying a quick pack when I go out shopping upgrading from a $4.49 standard pack to a $5.30 (or more as long as its under $6) pack with more chances at good stuff is worth it to me. Especially since the box is not worth it except for the box topper which I can get in the regular booster box. Still a cool product that is actually more enticing than a collectors pack!

When "THE LIST" was announced I thought it was like Time Spiral, there'd be one in every pack. There's fooling me

great vid, looking forward to see your booster box game with all the zendikar products!

Thanks for the breakdown I really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the art cards, they were a nice touch with MH1 and while not really worth anything I still find them cool to have in my collection.

Oh no I just realised that this is what they meant by fetchland reprints

For those currently contemplating Set vs. Draft, as of Feburary 2022, you are able to find many, many, many set booster boxes a similar or same price as, if not even cheaper, than their draft counterparts. Therefore, if you're considering the value (by the box, at least), then you aren't losing out on much for those extra couple rares and $80 gambles. Have fun, and good luck on your next pack.

I’ve heard that in set boosters the Commons in a pack will be related to each, same or related mechanics etc. I’ve heard that about the uncommons as well, is that still a thing? Maybe that doesn’t change financial evaluation, but if it is true it’s a draw for me.

Theros! It was my first set that I went to the prerelease for when I began playing!

my boi doomwake being dissed xD hes just a gentle giant prof! lol

Anyone noticed the error at 8:23? The chance of getting 1 extra rare/mythic is 21.8%. The wildcard slots may contain 1 common + 1 rare/mythic (17.5%) or 1 uncommon + 1 rare/mythic (4.3%).

I'm excited for the set booster I'm actually enjoying the art cards and can't wait to put them up on my wall

"The List"...I'm happy they're throwing reprints into easier to get packs that won't mess up drafts, but some of the stuff they're reprinting for seemingly no reason is weird. Noggle Hedge-Mage? Moon-Eating Dog? Trokin High Guard? And do we really need 300 cards on that list? Its like a Masters set that you have to pay $5 per card for. Gamble Masters. And Gamble isn't even in it!

I absolutely love the New Phyrexia block. It’s the mechanical horror that’s for me, the trailer 9 years later still gives me shivers when I hear that voice

"so you're paying more to gamble more" was my suspicion going into this video. Gambling is what makes Booster Fun, right?

I don't even play Magic (Pokemon TCG guy here) but this video makes me want to start.

Don’t forget that the commons and uncommons are “connected”

Commander slots would be so cool. Thanks for all you do prof.

My money says a last minute switcheroo from WOTC that the wild slot doesn’t have a chance for 2 rares/mythics.

That ended much more positively than I thought. I might rething my stance on these.

I've never lived in a draft-friendly community so I've never been a draft player. For once, WotC has a "premium product" aimed at folks like me at a price I can wholly support.

Prof, your killing it. Always make me smile or laugh. I enjoy it immensely.

Im confused though. If your opening these for standard, isn't "the list" a useless addition for you?