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?"
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...
Especially in the era of online advertising, the last thing we need to do is waste cardstock. WotC is going in the right direction by phasing out plastic, but paper waste is real too and they need to recognize that. Another thing that irks me is that you can get vanilla creatures in set and collector boosters. Why give me a trash card that is meant to balance draft when I am paying premium for a better booster experience? Even if the creature fits a tribal theme, I will never ever play it so why waste the slot and cardboard?
MaRo has mentioned this before. The ad card comes from their advertisement budget and their marketing division is kind enough to let them use that sometimes for tokens. You wouldn't get another card if it went away, you'd just get less ads.
@@bentheechidna i think they're referencing the double ad cards. I think they'd rather have another official token with an ad on it vs a card with ad on both sides
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
I'm not even interested in playing Pauper and I agree with this completely. More support for other formats would be fantastic, and would encourage people to buy more packs. Having a dedicated 'Pauper' slot or 'Commander' slot or something along those lines would be amazing.
But it's a good gamble. You pay a little more to maybe get a little more. Unlike with Double Masters, where you need to open a lot of product to even out the chances of paying a lot more to get completely burned. If I wanna play the lottery, I do that. But when I want to buy a booster during Commander night at my LGS, I don't want to feel burned. I would like the emotional range to be restricted to the range from "a little meh" to "kinda happy". Especially since the lack of complete disappointment is increasing the likelihood of me wanting to gamble again after the next round of play.
@@Volkbrecht except that these are double the price and your chance of getting 2 rares is much less than 100%, or even 50%. Thus, you are in fact getting ripped off and the "gamble" is just a feel bad in 97% of cases (the cases where you don't get 3 or more rares).
I would like to see the art card replaced with autographed random cards (either from within the set or otherwise) maybe just any card from whatever selection they choose with a 5% chance of being signed. I think that would be a lot more fun!
I agree. I am primarily a commander player and I only buy booster boxes to crack packs. I know the Professor says to buy singles, but the reality is that I play (or did play pre Covid) with older magic players that cracked their favorite cards in boosters back in the day(duals...etc). I want that experience for myself. I've opened gold in packs and it's fun! I proxy what I don't have for commander until I save up for what I need. It's win win. Now that I understand the value of what's in boxes (and know not to crack for value) I now only buy 1 per set.
Started using the art cards as the back side of commanders, has the bonus of making it easier to tell the commander is in the command zone as well on busier boards.
Mathematically you'll probably get more "rares" in a box but it won't be specific to your deck needs Magic has become more pay2win than many app games. Only difference is reliance on third party pay walls where priced may flunctuate. I wouldn't even be mad if they just admitted rarity determines power level. But they had the audacity to say rarity determines complexity level.
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!
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.
I was gonna say 'but their card backs are different!' before I remembered most people use sleeves and, in fact, double-faced cards also have different backs if you think about it
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!
"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%
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.
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.
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.
Notice though how he doesn''t do any actual maths with them. He only applies maths to the prices of the packs, meaning he effectively stays within the realm of the four basic arithmetic operations. The rest is just reproduction of WotC homepage content in his own font. As you would expect from an English major (a mayor is something else ;) ). If he was an engineer of any sort, or a psychologist, he could have crunched the numbers into one single percentage for additional rares/mythics a pack or box ;)
Yeah it was pretty much all off the homepage. Whats funny is this guy already spends a load of money on these cards at his lgs and someone charged him 160 for that box. Someone likes the proffs wallet more than he does
@@Volkbrecht Sorry, I'm not a native english speaker, and I write these comments on the fly, so, I apologize. Btw, don't take so seriously a joke, pal. I only wanted to point out a recurrent pun made by the Prof himself about his relationship with math. As a Psychologist, I'm aware about raw data and the statistic treatment it should receive.
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.
@@daddelbude7277 why so? Its not like you can really pull good stuff anyway. I saw as many set booster opening as I could on youtube. Most of them doesn't really have a good The List pull at all.
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)
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
That will look weird, since not all the little pictures are aligned along the same dimension of the card. I'd prefer it if WotC did it like they did with the Unstable Contraption cards. Like, cut a big picture into pieces, so we can reassemble that picture. I, like a lot of the people I met when the set was drafted, actually have collected these contraption pictures and may just frame some of them when I remodel my place this winter. They could also swap in some motifs that can be used as pretty tokens, or emblems or suchlike. Or basic land cards from throughout Magic's history. But just a tiny pretty picture with no practical purpose? For me, that's not good enough.
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.
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.
I was interested in the art cards as well. However with how low the others were I will probably just buy them separately, the value otherwise seems iffy at best.
@@MasterDoctorBenji And remember that the signature is imprinted, which in the sport CCG is worth nothing. When wotc introduce real auto art cards these will be basically giveaways.
$130 is NOT a fair deal. WotC was selling them on Amazon at $127 on preorder, but I refuse to pay mora than $110 for it, so I guess I'm never getting any.
@@MasterDoctorBenji Totally. When first described I thought they would include artist's proof cards or real signatures or something super rare like that. Not basically a dead card that at best can be used as a token or proxy. The added gold signature is just stupid.
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 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.
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.
This video struck a chord with me. I commented on your other video you referenced here due to the nostalgia of getting back into magic. I wasn’t subscribed previously, however I’ve watched a number of your videos here and when you’ve been a guest on The Command Zone. Your videos are pretty solid and I’ve been curious/skeptical of the value of boosters. I went to school with my (not so) local game store owner, but he’s been upfront with my chances vs cost and has cut me discounts on bulk purchases. Between people like him and you it makes a consumer confident they are getting the best “bang for their buck”.
92bagder Thats what I am hoping happens sometime in the not so distant future. I think Mystery Boosters have been my favorite product to come out since I started playing 4 years ago.
I honestly really like the Art Cards, just as a collector. And my local pricing makes only about a $0.50 usd difference between set boosters and draft boosters. So I'll definitely be choosing set boosters if I buy and zendikar cards.
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.
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
what do you mean? They'll pretend that until they're forced to stop, but I imagine they're preparing to change gears in case the draft booster becomes literally illegal
@@flaetsbnort Doubtful. The draft booster is a game piece and has utility in the randomization and strategy in a game format. Theme boosters at a stretch can fall under that umbrella. These set boosters and collector boosters are just straight gambling. Also note, the only ones who ever really win here are those of us getting these things at distributor level pricing.
@@viyami "The draft booster is a game piece and has utility in the randomization and strategy in a game format" sounds like something WotC's lawyers will claim if the hammer falls
@@flaetsbnort It's objectively true though. They service the same utility as the Jumpstart product line in serving as a novel way to enjoy the game and its mechanics. This is how they are balanced in set development, marketed, and expected to be used. Honestly, the only way they could push this more is making those WPN exclusive, dropping the price and ripping all the foils and showcase stuff from them.
A very thorough, mathematical breakdown of the value of Set Boosters. I appreciated this video greatly (also since I'd already bought a box of them and you gave it an A-).
Calculation, formulae, chances and probabilities, math, stats, give me your power! Oh, never mind, store in my country has only draft boosters available.
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.
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.
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
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!)
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.
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 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.
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
I got my first Set booster today. I got the Nissa of Shadowed Boughs art, and since that's my favorite card in the set I'm feeling the same hype, my dude.
I caught the sarcasm, but the sad reality is due to Mitch bringing attention to the card, this actually hasn't been reprinted nearly enough. It is a great card, and while I know it isn't a given for every deck, it baffles me why it isn't a staple in every precon commander deck.
I do like that the commons and uncommons all share a theme. It helps make them feel a biiiit less useless. If you pull a common/uncommon one of your decks needs, theres a chance the others can slot into it pretty well too, and since I tend to make my commander decks on a budget its helpful to have cheap options. I realize I'd probably get the same amount of common/uncommons in draft boosters if not more, but as far as the -feeling- of opening something I think its nicer. Can also get my mind going on brewing strategies.
I love the idea of the gamble and of cracking packs.. but i have learned long ago that because i play commander its always easier to figure out what i need from an upcoming set and just buy those cards... usually by the time a set is released i know exactly what 10-12 cards i want and what 10-12 cards they are going to be replacing in each of the decks i own (i have limited myself to 12 decks at any one time, just to keep them running well and to help my wallet)
Getting the pack you described has less than a 0.000000148% chance of happening according to the odds WotC claims you have. I think you might have a significantly better chance of opening a Journey into Nyx booster with 15 mythics.
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.
Kyle Burton 130 is a great price, and most likely closer to what the actual market value of each set booster box should be. I preordered mine from my local store at 154, knowing I’m paying the “FOMO” tax but still fine with it because I’m buying it for fun
Yes. I agree with @Whoopee Cushion. Frankly, that is the cost I expected to purchase the Set boosters from the beginning, although it would be closer to Mark's prediction at $120 per box.
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.
Hello professor,my favorite mtg set is innistrad. It was the first box I ever bought and the first time i pullled a mythic. It’s a set I look back on with a smile.
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.
Precisely, it costs them money. It's either straight pickups or none at all, and I'm pretty sure Mark's said this. I'll rather take the former than the latter.
Commander slot is very intriguing I hope they consider that for future sets. I bought the draft booster myself I pulled an Omnath and two Forsaken monuments, one being foil, along with some other mythics so I was very pleased!
"I don't care. I don't like commons or uncommons."
Prof reveals his true feelings about pauper XD
lmaooo i know right?
Thing is, these commons are a waste in these packs
Commons are just filler in these packs.
Disregard commons, buy legacy foils
Classic callout. Love it.
Many magic the gathering players ask the question "why are we taught math in school?"
This is why.
math is for blockers
you can just learn math playing MTG
@@W0LF2612 fuck dude now that's funny. Lol
Back when mana burn was a thing, math was quite important.
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?"
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...
Agreed
Especially in the era of online advertising, the last thing we need to do is waste cardstock.
WotC is going in the right direction by phasing out plastic, but paper waste is real too and they need to recognize that. Another thing that irks me is that you can get vanilla creatures in set and collector boosters. Why give me a trash card that is meant to balance draft when I am paying premium for a better booster experience? Even if the creature fits a tribal theme, I will never ever play it so why waste the slot and cardboard?
MaRo has mentioned this before. The ad card comes from their advertisement budget and their marketing division is kind enough to let them use that sometimes for tokens. You wouldn't get another card if it went away, you'd just get less ads.
@@bentheechidna i think they're referencing the double ad cards. I think they'd rather have another official token with an ad on it vs a card with ad on both sides
The ad cards for Arena and MTGO should unequivocally come with some kind of coupon so that they are more interesting than 0% interest.
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
This 1000%
If they want to include non expensive cards, then why not cards that actually see play? Pauper needs more love as well.
Printing more preordain, bolt, spellstutter sprite, and artifact lands is always a good thing if you ask me
@@___ooobodybagooo___ Take a nap buddy
I'm not even interested in playing Pauper and I agree with this completely. More support for other formats would be fantastic, and would encourage people to buy more packs. Having a dedicated 'Pauper' slot or 'Commander' slot or something along those lines would be amazing.
i second that motion.
actually they could use any cards that see play instead of usual mix of duds and chase bombs. that would be fibe too.
Professor: It's a massive gamble.
Me: So your saying there's a chance.
you're*
But it's a good gamble. You pay a little more to maybe get a little more. Unlike with Double Masters, where you need to open a lot of product to even out the chances of paying a lot more to get completely burned. If I wanna play the lottery, I do that. But when I want to buy a booster during Commander night at my LGS, I don't want to feel burned. I would like the emotional range to be restricted to the range from "a little meh" to "kinda happy". Especially since the lack of complete disappointment is increasing the likelihood of me wanting to gamble again after the next round of play.
@@MGX93dot imajin beeying that gie
Alexander- exactly lol
@@Volkbrecht except that these are double the price and your chance of getting 2 rares is much less than 100%, or even 50%. Thus, you are in fact getting ripped off and the "gamble" is just a feel bad in 97% of cases (the cases where you don't get 3 or more rares).
"Holy Statistical Analysis Batman! That's a lot of math!" *fires up the excel spreadsheet*
this is nice. This is good comedy.
You have improved my day by a margin of 3.86-21.68%
Its impossible to even figure out whats in these packs.
I would like to see the art card replaced with autographed random cards (either from within the set or otherwise) maybe just any card from whatever selection they choose with a 5% chance of being signed. I think that would be a lot more fun!
Yeeees fuck att carsds
Glad we have a professor to explain the absolute headache that is this booster set.
Not really a headache kinda over dramatic
I definitely like the idea of a “commander” slot, that would definitely be something I’d be interested in.
Sounds lame. Let's get modern reprints instead.
Ikoria had a decent commander slot in the collector boosters. I liked it.
Honestly, the commander slot should be a reprint from the commander precon exclusives. Like, say cards like arcane signet or Gisa ghoul caller.
@@Darwingreen5 Ikoria did this. It was nice
I agree. I am primarily a commander player and I only buy booster boxes to crack packs. I know the Professor says to buy singles, but the reality is that I play (or did play pre Covid) with older magic players that cracked their favorite cards in boosters back in the day(duals...etc). I want that experience for myself. I've opened gold in packs and it's fun! I proxy what I don't have for commander until I save up for what I need. It's win win. Now that I understand the value of what's in boxes (and know not to crack for value) I now only buy 1 per set.
Life hack: Use the art cards as proxies in your playgroup
I do that specifically with some lands that I think look super dope.
Started using the art cards as the back side of commanders, has the bonus of making it easier to tell the commander is in the command zone as well on busier boards.
@@qux7148 How do you use it as a back side? Clear sleeves?
@@AzuriteCoast top loaders
This hurts my head. I'm just gonna stick to buying singles.
Mathematically you'll probably get more "rares" in a box but it won't be specific to your deck needs
Magic has become more pay2win than many app games. Only difference is reliance on third party pay walls where priced may flunctuate.
I wouldn't even be mad if they just admitted rarity determines power level. But they had the audacity to say rarity determines complexity level.
Same bruv
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!
wow, this is like GREAT idea!
I already got the nissa art card! I like the set booster promo with pre-release!
Great idea.
Splendid idea, thank you.
I was wondering about legality of using art cards for lands
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.
hadn't even considered that, those would be awesome. "mega full art island"
Awesome idea!!!
Yes, and the cards with simpler text can be used like an altered card.
Shh! You fool! I had the same idea, and now others will too and the prices will rise!
I was gonna say 'but their card backs are different!' before I remembered most people use sleeves
and, in fact, double-faced cards also have different backs if you think about it
"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.
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!
"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%
The List should've been a 100% thing since they added "filler"
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.
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.
yeah I think they're pretty and makes for an interesting alternate collection
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.
Ahh yes, this video like all others you post have reminded me to just freaking buy singles. This is a headache.
Nobody appreciates enough the fact that the Professor is offering us percentages... Being an English Mayor. 🙌🏻
Notice though how he doesn''t do any actual maths with them. He only applies maths to the prices of the packs, meaning he effectively stays within the realm of the four basic arithmetic operations. The rest is just reproduction of WotC homepage content in his own font. As you would expect from an English major (a mayor is something else ;) ). If he was an engineer of any sort, or a psychologist, he could have crunched the numbers into one single percentage for additional rares/mythics a pack or box ;)
Yeah it was pretty much all off the homepage. Whats funny is this guy already spends a load of money on these cards at his lgs and someone charged him 160 for that box. Someone likes the proffs wallet more than he does
@@Volkbrecht Sorry, I'm not a native english speaker, and I write these comments on the fly, so, I apologize. Btw, don't take so seriously a joke, pal. I only wanted to point out a recurrent pun made by the Prof himself about his relationship with math. As a Psychologist, I'm aware about raw data and the statistic treatment it should receive.
@@abuelovinagres4411 Dont sweat it, man. I was just pointing out that there was more realism to your joke than you may have intended ;)
@@abuelovinagres4411 Dont sweat it, man. I was just pointing out that there was more realism to your joke than you may have intended ;)
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.
Keep it up, Prof! 🙏🙏🙏 Love the insight and reviews of new and upcoming products!
The List with this high variety of cards could be in every pack
Wizard should see this.
@@daddelbude7277 why so? Its not like you can really pull good stuff anyway. I saw as many set booster opening as I could on youtube. Most of them doesn't really have a good The List pull at all.
Robert Rowlett that’s why you’d just buy the draft booster box instead
@@metagrossle it wont affect ur drafting. Just replace the token slot in normal booster pack with The List cards with 25 percent chance of getting it.
@@mrscarynoodles7269 Red OP's comment.
My local gamestore--the best place to shop--is selling Set Booster Boxes for the same price as a draft booster box.
Where is that?
What's the name of the store?
Yeah mine is selling them for 105. 10 bucks more than the draft box
That's a great deal. Definitely go get one if you can
At mine, too. Have pre-ordered one, may get more if the first gamble yields value.
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)
Thought this too. If the art cards were just full art (vertically) of say, your commander... that would be pretty great.
I've been using art cards for proxies since Horizons.
I just like them because art
I just bought a bunch of the orvar art cards to use as token copies
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
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.
That will look weird, since not all the little pictures are aligned along the same dimension of the card. I'd prefer it if WotC did it like they did with the Unstable Contraption cards. Like, cut a big picture into pieces, so we can reassemble that picture. I, like a lot of the people I met when the set was drafted, actually have collected these contraption pictures and may just frame some of them when I remodel my place this winter.
They could also swap in some motifs that can be used as pretty tokens, or emblems or suchlike. Or basic land cards from throughout Magic's history. But just a tiny pretty picture with no practical purpose? For me, that's not good enough.
"As have absolutely worthless cards..."
>Two of the three cards shown are from Lorwyn-Shadowmoor
Why do you have to hurt me like this?
thought exactly the same thing. Any reprint from Lorwyn-Shadowmoor even if it's a crappy Noggle is very welcome
@@Skiriwowi That's like, the best noggle
great vid, looking forward to see your booster box game with all the zendikar products!
I really appreciate the effort and math put into these videos. They help a lot when debating on buying from different sets :) thanks prof!
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.
You could even write the rules on them with a pen and you have full art proxies...
@@Mishtimaus This is what i do!
And they are with the same cardstock as normal cards not the token cardstock
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.
I was interested in the art cards as well. However with how low the others were I will probably just buy them separately, the value otherwise seems iffy at best.
@@MasterDoctorBenji And remember that the signature is imprinted, which in the sport CCG is worth nothing. When wotc introduce real auto art cards these will be basically giveaways.
$130 is NOT a fair deal. WotC was selling them on Amazon at $127 on preorder, but I refuse to pay mora than $110 for it, so I guess I'm never getting any.
I've seen people use them in cubes as replacements for more expensive cards
@@MasterDoctorBenji Totally. When first described I thought they would include artist's proof cards or real signatures or something super rare like that. Not basically a dead card that at best can be used as a token or proxy. The added gold signature is just stupid.
Great to see the commander for zendikar inthe back, looking forward for that review.
Thank you for having the numbers run. It will help decide if I should buy a box or individual cards.
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 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.
It’d make more sense. But at the rate the boxes have climbed, a bundle will be $60 and up. Which is a bit ridiculous.
I find it actually amazing that they included half-frame Wastes in The List
Prof, your killing it. Always make me smile or laugh. I enjoy it immensely.
It's like I'm reading my chances in a casino.
The Professor: "I don't care about commons"
Pauper Players: In response, I'm sad
The Prof loves pauper, lol.
Prof is a pauper player. A big advocate of pauper i might add. Irony?
Merely a joke. He got me to build Mono B devotion and I love the deck.
Okay, your sadness goes on the stack...
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've got infernal spawn of evil. hahahaha... it's hilarous!!!!! IT'S COMING!!!!!!!
been waiting for this one! Keep up the good work prof!
Quite possibly the one video I was waiting for the most these last months.
Love you prof! Keep up the amazing work.
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.
This video struck a chord with me. I commented on your other video you referenced here due to the nostalgia of getting back into magic. I wasn’t subscribed previously, however I’ve watched a number of your videos here and when you’ve been a guest on The Command Zone. Your videos are pretty solid and I’ve been curious/skeptical of the value of boosters. I went to school with my (not so) local game store owner, but he’s been upfront with my chances vs cost and has cut me discounts on bulk purchases. Between people like him and you it makes a consumer confident they are getting the best “bang for their buck”.
Well, yea. It's got mystery booster in it
1/4 packs has the chance of being 1/15th of a mystery booster. Id rather have mystery booster 2.0
My LGS was giving one of these away with a prerelease kit. I got a Tree of Tales in mine!
92bagder Thats what I am hoping happens sometime in the not so distant future. I think Mystery Boosters have been my favorite product to come out since I started playing 4 years ago.
These seem interesting, thanks for clearing this up :)
Thanks for making these crazy new boosters easier to grok prof!
Thanks Prof. That Set Booster breakdown, at face value, was crazy confusing. Feeling a lot more informed now.
I honestly really like the Art Cards, just as a collector. And my local pricing makes only about a $0.50 usd difference between set boosters and draft boosters. So I'll definitely be choosing set boosters if I buy and zendikar cards.
I'm most impressed with how quickly your hair grows back, Professor. Can you teach me?
I love your channel I appreciate the time an work you put in for us the fans would love to meet you one day 🙌🏽
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.
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
so, is WotC done pretending that they aren't selling lottery tickets to children?
what do you mean? They'll pretend that until they're forced to stop, but I imagine they're preparing to change gears in case the draft booster becomes literally illegal
@@flaetsbnort Doubtful. The draft booster is a game piece and has utility in the randomization and strategy in a game format. Theme boosters at a stretch can fall under that umbrella. These set boosters and collector boosters are just straight gambling. Also note, the only ones who ever really win here are those of us getting these things at distributor level pricing.
Any difference from the past 25 years? Boosters ARE lottery tickets now and when Alpha was released...
@@viyami "The draft booster is a game piece and has utility in the randomization and strategy in a game format" sounds like something WotC's lawyers will claim if the hammer falls
@@flaetsbnort It's objectively true though. They service the same utility as the Jumpstart product line in serving as a novel way to enjoy the game and its mechanics. This is how they are balanced in set development, marketed, and expected to be used. Honestly, the only way they could push this more is making those WPN exclusive, dropping the price and ripping all the foils and showcase stuff from them.
Thanks prof . Can’t wait to put my hands on one of these new boosters
A very thorough, mathematical breakdown of the value of Set Boosters. I appreciated this video greatly (also since I'd already bought a box of them and you gave it an A-).
Calculation, formulae, chances and probabilities, math, stats, give me your power!
Oh, never mind, store in my country has only draft boosters available.
I like the art cards, definitely beats another worthless common or uncommon.
I agree, but, in the end.... It’s just a worthless art card.
Dominaria is my favorite set of all time. I just back into magic and it was such a fun set with great mechanics. Great limited play!
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.
Last time i was this early, standard was still enjoyable
Damn that was a long time ago
So yesterday?
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.
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
This was very nicely explained. Thanks :)
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.
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!)
Theros! It was my first set that I went to the prerelease for when I began playing!
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.
4:03 ah yes. They wildly unseen ncommon card have been released. And there were those that laughed at my thesis paper...
The word “common” has lost all meaning to me thanks to this video.
Common peasant.
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 ^^)
This is a nice test to see what can be done with set boosters. Can't wait to see what they can do with a second iteration of them.
"2 ncommon"
Now prof....
As is 2 ncommon with Draft Booster to justify the price change, lol.
Awesome video man. Thanks for the breakdown
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.
Today i bought a pre-released box and it was amazing :) nice vid Professor :)
I knew you'd set me straight on this stuff! Getting back into MTG with the new Kamigawa Neon Dynasty set.
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
I got my first Set booster today. I got the Nissa of Shadowed Boughs art, and since that's my favorite card in the set I'm feeling the same hype, my dude.
"Wayfarer's Bauble! A commander prized card, never before reprinted..."
There's 8 printings actually.
That was sarcasm lol
@@exxonrcg My bad. Usually when Prof is being sarcastic his tone makes it *beat you over the head* obvious, and his tone here sounded serious.
I caught the sarcasm, but the sad reality is due to Mitch bringing attention to the card, this actually hasn't been reprinted nearly enough. It is a great card, and while I know it isn't a given for every deck, it baffles me why it isn't a staple in every precon commander deck.
I like it. Looking forward to more of such in the future.
I do like that the commons and uncommons all share a theme. It helps make them feel a biiiit less useless. If you pull a common/uncommon one of your decks needs, theres a chance the others can slot into it pretty well too, and since I tend to make my commander decks on a budget its helpful to have cheap options. I realize I'd probably get the same amount of common/uncommons in draft boosters if not more, but as far as the -feeling- of opening something I think its nicer. Can also get my mind going on brewing strategies.
I love the presence of the art cards. I'm psyched for them!
We just dont care.
-prof 2020
Nice review. Good one prof!
I love the idea of the gamble and of cracking packs.. but i have learned long ago that because i play commander its always easier to figure out what i need from an upcoming set and just buy those cards... usually by the time a set is released i know exactly what 10-12 cards i want and what 10-12 cards they are going to be replacing in each of the decks i own (i have limited myself to 12 decks at any one time, just to keep them running well and to help my wallet)
Yay! Gambling but not really! Such a healthy practice for everyone and not just Hasbro!
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)
Getting the pack you described has less than a 0.000000148% chance of happening according to the odds WotC claims you have. I think you might have a significantly better chance of opening a Journey into Nyx booster with 15 mythics.
@@kindredspirit9703 it's a joke
@Le Bob Knowing the odds makes the joke even funnier.
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.
Commander slots would be so cool. Thanks for all you do prof.
I was literally just asking this question 🤣 I have a preorder at ~$130 and have been hovering that cancel button
Did you press it?
Kyle Burton 130 is a great price, and most likely closer to what the actual market value of each set booster box should be. I preordered mine from my local store at 154, knowing I’m paying the “FOMO” tax but still fine with it because I’m buying it for fun
Yes. I agree with @Whoopee Cushion. Frankly, that is the cost I expected to purchase the Set boosters from the beginning, although it would be closer to Mark's prediction at $120 per box.
James Trevelyan not yet, and now I’m backing away 👀
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.
This is true. They are somewhat themed to eachother in the pack
Hello professor,my favorite mtg set is innistrad. It was the first box I ever bought and the first time i pullled a mythic. It’s a set I look back on with a smile.
I really appreciate you Prof. I love that you look out for the average player. Can't wait for the next video
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 like this idea.
Precisely, it costs them money. It's either straight pickups or none at all, and I'm pretty sure Mark's said this. I'll rather take the former than the latter.
my boi doomwake being dissed xD hes just a gentle giant prof! lol
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
Commander slot is very intriguing I hope they consider that for future sets. I bought the draft booster myself I pulled an Omnath and two Forsaken monuments, one being foil, along with some other mythics so I was very pleased!