MTG - Is it worth it to buy a Chaos 6 Pack? A WalMart Exclusive Magic: The Gathering Product
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In Response: For those in the comments pointing to the fact the box says "From Recent Sets" I would ask "Is Return To Ravnica" block a recent set? It's from 2012, over HALF A DECADE ago. That's recent? What about original Innistrad? That was the block before RTR. Is that recent? Mirrodin Besieged? Alara? How far back does "recent" go back to? Without a CLEAR and DEFINED list of potential sets, then it is just an umbrella term being used to dismiss criticism, which I fear many are being far too accepting of.
By using the term "CHAOS" which is an very well known and played format of Magic, there is a strong implication of this product's association with that format. It is not unreasonable for me to hold the product to the scrutiny of how well it can be used for the Chaos format.
Finally, there are many threads and videos unboxing this product in addition to my video.In fact, my video is fairly late to the game as these just came to my local WalMart and were not previously available or perhaps just sold out. There's plenty of people who pulled packs from further back than RTR block, in one of the boxes I opened just in testing and off camera, I got an Odyssey pack.
I gave credit to the company where fair, but don't be so quick to give a free pass to MJ Holdings.
It doesn't make any sense to list out each and every set on the back of the box. What if they put a single back of Beta in 1 of the millions of these that are made? Then you have BETA on the back of every box as a possibility. That is way more misleading than just saying recent.
The back of the box shows you the promos you could get so I don't see how that is misleading at all either.
The box is what it is. 6 packs for 3.33 each rather than 4.18 that they are off the shelf. The fact that you can use them for Chaos Sealed with friends is just an interesting quirk.
Man I started Magic with RTR and it's already been 6 years? FeelsOldMan
GujinGod i started in original ravinca ;-;
I'm ancient Dx
Shiloh Lip Syncs lol I don’t know where you buy but packs are 3.50 off the shelf where I go
I would say RTR is recent, my LGR still sells RTR boosters
*Opens Subscriptions on TH-cam*
*Sees Prof has reviewed a product I've never heard of*
"It's going to suck, isn't it?"
That was what I was about to say lol.
I'm assuming you guys haven't seen MTG Unsealed. Hes opened mass amounts of these products around Christmas last year. Check it out it was interesting.
I love your reaction to the "walmart exclusive"
Many Magic the Gathering players ask the question, why is Wizards even allowing a product like this to be available at big box corporate stores?
W. Ruff greed
Blame Hasbro
Because they're running a business...? Who do you think buys more qty, LGS or Walmart? I only buy from big box what I can't from local.
Because they have to get rid of the product SOMEHOW once it no longer becomes profitable on it's own. They can't send any unsold product back to Wizards, so they repackage it as a 'Mystery Box' and put it back on the shelves.
For kitchen table players to grab something and play at home
When I first saw this pack, the first thing how to use these wasn't chaos draft. Rather, I think these could be a fun way to play chaos sealed with a friend. It's different and it (at least to me) gave me the wibes of a prerelease box. I think that's the "best" way to use these packs.
I like that idea. Would almost buy one for that, considering I have been happily buying Dollar Store packs to play with my nephew and actually having some fun with them. Walmarts in Canada (or at least all the ones I have been to) don't seem to stock the same stuff though and what they do stock seems to be a lot more expensive than going to my local game store.
First thing I thought of as well. But, my roommate and I one night bought some packs to play sealed. I bought my 6 packs from 1 block. He bought various sets and blocks. Had no synergies and lost horribly. I guess my point is, I'm not sure how I feel about playing a deck with mechanics all over the place.
I love it when you say 'many Magic the Gathering players'
It’s sort of a they say, I say kind of thing
some of my best memories from mtg are 2 years ago randomly buying Walmart exclusives and us all getting into it. I mean pulling an Ajani planeswalker from Theros block was helpful. but innocence of it all!...the unknown territories
Looks like this is the best liquidation product so far at least
definitely better than those fat packs
this way it's like you're drafting for a way cheaper price
Joseph Moeglin remember happy happy go fun fun
They were at least a bit honest by saying it includes packs from "Recent Sets".
I admit I enjoy these things. M15, Magic Origins, those are all sets I enjoy playing with and even just raw collecting, but the 2 places in my town that sell magic cards... don't have those at all, so this is basically the only way I can get them, and these being as cheap as they are makes it easier for me to run to my LGS for a few singles at the one that sells them, or some D&D minis at the other. End of the day, for me and my situation, these are fantastic.
Thank you for acknowledging the angle of just cracking packs for fun, I appreciate that very much.
Glad we don't have Walmart or Target around here in Sweden. They don't like our labor laws. >.<
That said, I do buy lose packs from older sets from my FLGS from time to time, then I put them in a box for future use for drafting, and using with my Un-Commander deck (it contains both Summon the Pack and Booster Tutor, to great hilarity in commander games with the deck, and yes, I do ask beforehand if it is alright that I play a un-deck).
You have labour laws mixed up with tax code, and business liscencing, most companies don’t go to Sweden because it’s expensive to even apply for a liscense
Products like this are nice for those on a tighter budget, but who are still wanting to enjoy magic. Although supporting your LGC(s) is always ideal.
Tengentally related.... we were talking this weekend at the Dominaria prerelease about how Wizards can support local game stores, and the commander product came to mind. In addition to the wide variety of players preferring different finishes for their decks (foil vs non-foil) they could support local stores by selling the foil commander versions at local shops, and non-foils at Walmart and Target.
It doesn't answer the question you posed about Walmart/Target exclusives directly, but there will be some players who might prefer getting one option from Target over a different one from their local game store, and vice versa. They could, in addition to that, go a similar route with exclusives for certain vendors being alternate art as a way to give added incentive to buy from that vendor while not eliminating value from somewhere else.
Using one or two of these helped supplement a recent chaos draft with some friends of mine, it worked pretty well, as we also threw in some older packs and even some master sets, it helped kept the price a bit lower and made it a little exciting. If we had only used 4 of these packs, the experience would’ve been damaged at least a little bit. I stand by your grade prof, and I really enjoyed the video. Keep up videos like these, because Walmart/Target products are very appealing to new players, and if they’re not steered towards local stores, I fear for their continued sales and existence.
That pained smile at the beginning was all the answer we needed really.
“Throughout Magics history”, so RTR?
Jason Wheatley At least you get shock lands in those sets.
History can be subjective. Like with this, it's 'what unsold product do we have in our History bin?'
If they're getting rid of unsold packs it makes alot of sense that the packs are newer, because newer packs have an unlimited print run (printing cards until no more packs are bought) where as the older sets had a limited number of packs printed and thus often sold out quickly. this chaos pack is just to get rid of the left over packs from the unlimited print runs.
You give the best info on products. If I had seen these packs I would have bought ALL of them. I will still pick one up to sate my curiosity.
I bought this and I'm not looking for recent, playing Commander I love it. Also got unstable which was super cool
That prof face in the beginning says it all. The most exotic pack I’ve pulled from one of these was a pack of Scourge. Nearly all boxes had a Thalia’s Lancers promo card. Given the number of recent sets they stuff into these, you’re better off picking up the packs from any LGS with a decent selection.
I have bought three just for myself. All Thalias Lancers
mreshadow I had bought 2 chaos packs, with Thalia ' s Lancers and a slightly bent Hamletback Goliath, it really is annoying that, even though the promos aren't amazing they are just sort of thrown into the pack.
I opened 1 and my buddy opened 3. All Thalia’s Lancers
I don't live really live near game stores, so having stuff like this at walmart is actually really convenient, and I like filling out my card library with different sets. In fact, the only conspiracy cards I have at all have come from these packs, and while it's not the best value, it certainly isn't bad, unlike some other walmart products
I'm a huge fan of this product, but agree with your suggested changes. Maybe if it was done in a similar way to vinyl toy blind opens with the odds on the side of the box.
Those promo cards can be the prize for your houseleague Chaos draft. Also, instead of paying $60 or $70 at a MagicFest, you should just buy a bunch of these boxes, then pay top dollar for a couple special packs, mix it all together and you have a way better/cheaper Choas Draft experience.
That being said, if you're interested in Chaos Drafting by yourself and you don't have the interest in organizing something yourself, the MagicFest events could help introduce you to others who are also into the format.
There is a lot to think about with Chaos Drafting, but the more popular it gets, the more expensive it will become.
I've had a ton of fun Winston drafting these from Wal-Mart and the similar packs from target- ten bucks each for a pretty fun activity when the rest of the group is partying
Honestly, I saw this and thought "chaos sealed pools? I'm all in!" I think as a casual sealed experience, this is probably a great product. My LGS sells 1000 random bulk chaff for 5$ and it's always fun to buy a few and play "elementary school" magic where you never have 4x of a card, and your 6/7 for 8 is a bomb, I see this product fitting into the same "dumb casual fun" as that.
I've picked up a couple of these, really just because I've suffered through the hell that is Walmart, and this is a fun way to fluff the collection as a reward to myself for dealing with the Chaos!
Fun format for chaos drafting: 3 matching packs for each player. Allows for some synergy between packs, and also allows for plenty of randomness
Today I'm going to Dominarias Pre-release and really hoping to pull your card, prof! Keep up the good work! Greetings from México
It does say recent sets, so it's some effort towards transparency but I agree, if they listed which sets are possible it'd be better
Walmart already charges over MSRP on all of their products, so it's unsurprising that they charge more than expected value for a product like Chaos Packs. I've seen them on occasion at Walmart and other than the idea of getting them for my kids so they get random packs to open, I've never been tempted to pick them up.
Well done video and great breakdown of the pros and cons for the Walmart Chaos Packs.
I agree with you that it is worth it if you think it is fun. My girlfriend and I love buying these and opening them. She pulled a Birds of Paradise from Conspiracy and also got a Scourge pack (2003). No good cards in the scourge pack but it is a very old pack which we both loved - I miss me some Gaudy Medieval!
Hi professor, I'm new to magic and I'm glad you just made this video because I just bought a chaos pack yesterday to see what it was. Also it looks like you got the same promo I got.
There's a bulk liquidation store in my city sources unsold product from Wal-Mart and other stores. They sell a lot of the unsold magic product from around the city and I'm pumped to see these boxes sold there for 13 bucks in about 3 months
You know, that could be interesting for some kind of chaos sealed... Doesn't make it good, but it does make it an interesting limited exercise.
Coming back to this for some reason. It'd be a decent way to get a bulk of packs for chaos draft, then you pool together for some more interesting packs. If you bought say, 3 of these, and then 6 more interesting packs, you could randomly shuffle them out to everyone & be confident that there's a decent amount of more valuable, chaotic sets for a lower cost chaos draft.
I love them for just opening packs, I have had some pretty decent pulls and some useful pulls. For me its the fun of just opening the packs. My last choas pack came with an conspiracy pack and unstable pack ( love the hydrapoodle and full art plains :) ).
Great video, i'm stil waiting for a most intersting set than Dominaria to re-enter the game , but its good to see whats up.
Without even watching the video, based on the title and answering it, I'm guessing it's not worth it.
Edit after watching the video: Interesting points, still feels to me like something designed to prey on ignorance rather than a good way to run a specific draft format.
Agreed. This seems more like a way to get rid of some left over packs to people that don't know they can get better value elsewhere. And while it might be a nice thing for people looking for a budget Chaos Draft, that's the only real use I can see for this.
Cracking packs already is pretty random. Throwing in randomness for what pack you're going to crack isn't something I'd even consider doing...
Raymond Benjamins It feels like a way to sell leftovers because it *is.* The Professor already mentioned this in a previous video, but these products are a way Wizards make to mitigate losses: large retailers like Walmart and Target buy boxes, sell packs, then after the leftover packs become obsolete, they are returned to Wizards so they can make these products and sell them as something "new".
Since the leftover packs would be discarded either way, I don't mind if they try to make a new product out of it with a discount price. Sadly, as far as pricing goes, it's still _not quite there._ If they manage to make it a bit cheaper and fix the duplicates problem, I wouldn't mind it as much and could see myself picking up a few.
Ritokure these are owned by MJ Holdings a company that supplies big box stores. Wal-Mart and Target can't ship unsold boosters to WOTC so MJ Holdings repacks them as these products. Wizards does not control these in any way.
I bought one of those because someone I know is extremely lucky with them all the time - he even pulled a Torment pack once with a Cabal Coffers. Whereas when I tried my luck, my promo was a regular M15 land; not even foil.
Thalia's lancers is actually great now because of the legendary planeswalker change, now it can tutor out any walker.
I like them ... I pulled a mox and a timewalk. Plus I got apples, laundry detergent and a water bottle at the same place
Picked up two chaos packs.
Pack #1 boosters: Journey into Nyx, Oath of Gatewatch, Oath of Gatewatch, Eldritch Moon, Conspiracy Take the Crown, Magic Origins
Rares and Foils: Temple of Epiphany, Ayli Eternal Pilgrim, Call the Gatewatch + Foil Kozilek's Return, Collective Effort, Desertion, Battlefield Forge + Foil Mage-Ring Network = ~ $20.25 in rares and foils (EchoMTG prices)
Pake #2 boosters: Journey into Nyx, Oath of Gatewatch, Oath of Gatewatch, Eldritch Moon, Conspiracy Take the Crown, Magic Origins
Rares (no Foils): Harness by Force, Hissing Quagmire, Hissing Quagmire, Soul Separator, Keeper of Keys, Harbinger of the Tides = ~ $5.71 in rares (EchoMTG prices)
Plus each pack had a Foil Thalia's Lancers.
I found it mildly surprising that both 6-packs had boosters from exactly the same sets.
To be fair, there's sometimes good stuff in the target/Meijer/Walmart repackaged products. They made the mistake of repackaging Commander decks +2 boosters and a spindown for 20$. Picked up Oloro and Nekusar. Was a good day.
I'm actually impressed a Wal-Mart product didn't immediately fail the Professor's evaluation. Usually Wal-Mart's products suck.
I like chaos packs but I just started playing and collecting again definitely helps collection building
I think more people would like and comment if you interacted more in the comment section. Great vid prof.
Another fun option could be to play a 40 card commander sealed game with the promo as commander, regardless of if it is legendary. Might require some rules tweaks allowing colours outside commander identity as I'm not sure it would be too fun to be forced into mono white by a bad promo.
I think it is a nice idea that Walmart is selling booster packs for below price, and with a fair variety. I personally saw someone at my local store who opened Avacyn Restored and got Avacyn herself. Another time six people from the high school next door had a draft with packs from this item. It allows players less in cash to experience a draft. And they traded to the Commander players for more modern cards, so they could build decks. But it is still a liquidation of unbought product, so it could be better for us.
Great way video to start my saturday, thank you professor !
This seems a lot better then other walmart/target exclusives. If it wasn't for the fact that you could get duplicates in the same pack, I'd totally buy this to do chaos draft/chaos sealed with some friends.
You joke about Dragon's Maze, but it's about 3.33 on TCG player per pack, and it's nearly 5 years old. Honestly I expected these to be just full of standard boosters.
I bought a few of these and haven't been too disappointed
It's an unsold product dump, that's all it is. Once the cards are no longer in the set rotation, they have to get rid of them SOMEHOW because they can't send it back. Same with those '3 pack+promo' packets that you find. Most, if not all, comes from a redistribution company.
There's also the 3-packs for $11.99, which are literally a little more transparent about what's in them; those tend to be from much more recent sets (from the previous 3 years, at most), however.
As tempting as it is to buy packs every time you pass by the Walmart card section, it is always better to buy the singles you need.
Agree 100% with the Prof, always try to spend the money at your local store if that's where you play.
Me and a friend just got into Winston drafting, and I feel like these would be great for this - obviously though the apparent limitation to recent sets and the high likelihood of repeat packs would be a considerable downside. Also the fact that we don't have Walmart in the UK, which I suppose could actually be a positive.
The last point. Support your local LGS makes a lot of sense. More than any of the other pros/cons imho. Buying from Walmart/Target without a clear reason (I can see buying precons from them because that's usually a decent value at least and your lgs usually has to charge msrp or higher for them.)
But for things like Chaos Draft Sets (We used to call them Random Drafts back in the day at Neutral Ground), you aren't getting any benefit from not supporting your LGS. There is always tension between doing that and getting the best bargain but here I think Profession clearly shows how these packs at least don't really offset the harm done by not buying from your local game store.
Cant wait to see Professor oppening Dominaria Boosters without Rares. It happened a lot in pre releases around the world. During my sunday pre release between 35 players at least 5 oppened more than one booster without a Rare.
You’re amazing
Im the definition of a newbie
And you have been instrumental
Thanks!
I've played Magic in a Walmart before. Me and a buddy did while waiting till midnight for an SNES classic.
Sure am loving the Unstable booster I got :/ Kinda figured "recent magic sets" was at least limited to legal sets.
I pulled a Scalding Tarn from one of the random packs in one of these. $200.00 card for $20.00. Awesome.
I just bought a pack yesterday and pulled a foil Ancient Tomb out of an Oath of the Gatewatch pack!
Love these video's really help me make smart choices where I spend my money.
It's always great to see you made a video 👍
I've gotten a few of these just for fun for me and my friends and have had pretty good luck from them but I do agree with what was said
Thanks for the review Prof! Good info in this one!
i actually did a chaos sealed with three other friends with this (We each bought one) and it was a lot of fun
These Chaos boxes are also sold at gamestop. I grabbed one when gamestop was haveing a 25% off deal.
I bought a bunch of the mystery box 6 packs at Walmart, lured in by what was written on the box - "a mystery 6th pack from throughout Magic's history". I thought to myself "What if there is an alpha or beta pack in there, with a possible Black Lotus or Mox?" and was disappointed to see packs like Return to Ravnica in it. I would surmise that this product is no better, and the chances of getting packs from say The Dark or Urza's Legacy are slim to none.
Hey Prof, thanks for the content. I always appreciate your point of view
I got one with a Khans pack and from it the Wooded Foothills and foil Monastery Swiftspear I pulled basically paid for the entire thing.
I'm a sucker for cracking packs so I personally love the chaos pack it may be because the first pack i opened contained a $45 so safe to say I made my money back :). Which I than went and spent at my local game shop haha.
I think this is an interesting product, especially if there is a reasonable chance to actually get older packs. I would be highly excited for any old pack, especially ones with the old card frame. What is the oldest someone has gotten?
In my opinion what they are trying with these packs is to make the customer gamble, which usually works, if they tell which packs will be insisde( from bulk sets or not good sets) people wont buy it, but if all they say is that it is random, people will be more inclined to try their luck and see if they can pull a good booster pack from it.
a friend and i got one of these each and did a chaos sealed game. i will buy them occasionally for old pack gamble. oldest i have seen is return to ravnica, a pleasant surprise, but almost all of them have RIX, IXA, M19, AKH, HOU and one other random pack (usually SOI or KLD). you're pretty lucky to get anything older than BFZ, tho khans is relatively common.
these wouldn't be worth it for chaos draft, and i'm a lil disappointed it wasn't mentioned to turn it into a chaos sealed idea instead. that way people don't end up drafting certain compatible blocks due to lack of randomisation. it is also easier if you have a smaller group at the kitchen table.
as for pulls, they are as random as the packs you get. my friend pulled a kiora master of the depths from a bfz pack, sadly not long after it rotated out and the price went down, and i have pulled a rekindling phoenix, so the packs are legitimate packs, so you're not being screwed by resealed packs or anything.
The box says from recent sets so at least they weren’t misleading us there.
If I recall correctly, the Azusa, Lost but Seeking judge promo surfaced in these chaos packs before it was even officially announced. Definitely very much an outlier though, I seriously doubt the packs will contain a promo worth more than $1 in all but the rarest occasions.
I dont know y,but the intro music always makes me so happy......
You made a video previously about a product sold in major stores that was a inventory dump with random assortment of cards. Would you consider this product a large step up from that? I agreed with you and absolutely hated those random packages being sold.
I still remember the time when I used the deadly combo of Booster Tutor+Isochron Scepter in a chaos draft. The store owner where the draft was taking place was ready to commit suicide.
Who else went to their local midnight pre-release? I got 10th out of 23 players, and all 6 of my rares and 1 of my promos were cards that I wanted. Also, holy Black Lotus is Valduk broken! Every game where I got him out and equipped/aura-ed I won within the next 2 turns. Really digging Dominaria, who else is having fun with it? :D
My wife and I get these and do a winston draft with them. Are our decks good in the end? Probably not, but it is a fun way to use them.
happened to come across 2 boxes of these at walmart, with pioneer around its not so bad!
holy fuck, so I just opened a box with a kaladesh booster, got a chromatic lantern masterpiece foil!!!!
As far as the promo, ive only pulled thalias lancers, and one ajani planeswalker deck planeswalker, but i enjoy these just to open
I had an interesting thought while watching this: in reference to the other video about the Tolarian Scholar, perhaps R&D purposely creates these to help boost initial interest in the game from an audience that will likely not know anything about it. The level of potential disappointment from advanced players is what drives them to LGS to get something better, but for the John Q muggle customer, these can be purchased by parents for their magic-playing kids, who will in turn get a better quality product from their LGS as their skills improve.
I do understand the disappointment for those who rely on Wal-Mart/Target as their MTG supplier, but personally I would purchase online if I were an advanced player without a LGS.
these packs are fine, ive pulled a lot of good cards from the packs, and i like theros, and a lot of boosters from that set in these.
overall, i like them.
Got one of these last night had two fate reforged packs, opened an ugin i was happy lol
I like opening packs more than I like playing magic
You have a gambling problem, seek help.
Or don't, that's your money I guess.
have you ever tried playing it?
I am actually on the same boat! I barely play at all and bought 3 boxes and I have no interest in selling what I got, I just enjoy opening them.
perfectMustache is so fabulas yes I play lots and have many cards
@5:25 Holy carp, it's Legion Loyalist!
I've bought a few of these, and had luck enough to make back at least value of the price in rares alone. Plus, Thallia's Lancers as better than ever with all the new Legendary cards out of Dominaria.
It doesn't hurt that I work at Wal-mart, and thus get a discount on this product. #not_an_ad.
Buy three chaos kits, then buy some more older more expensive boosters to round it out.
At 5:15 he mentioned that theres no indication of the general timeline from which the packs are coming from, so I just wanted to note that it says on the box "6 assorted boosters from recent magic sets." Not trying to be a contrarian, just wanted to make it known.
Price is completely fair. Even if there's only 2-5% chance of an older out of print pack, that already adds significant value onto what's already a good price. Better though to get your Local games store to make up a chaos draft kit for you. I don't support buying MTG from walmart and those places.
I bought two recently and each had one Origins, one Theros, and four Guild Pact
Just found your TH-cam channel. You are great!! Greetings from Germany!
Chaos draft? Sounds like a lot of fun. :)
You were way more positive towards this one, I'd rather buy singles or packs from my lgs
Would it be worth it to buy a Dominaria box for 120? The intent is to acquire lots of the cards from the new set along with good cards for brawl and commander.
I've come to see the adding of another Walmart product to the dumpster fire that we can't even invest in. (Even Garbagefire investments will agree.)
My thoughts pretty much summed up.
MAGIC IS NOT FOR INVESTING
Brandon Butterfield You're right. It's a card game first and foremost!
You're not very good at this trolling and sarcasm stuff, are you?
Nug Humper thanks for the support. That being said this is a mediocre product