So, more than half the price for a booster pack for less than half the cards. And you can't draft with these.
The marketing strategy quite literally depends on the consumer being idiots and not seeing the mathematical disparity. That doesn't work in a game catered to nerds.
The marketing strategy quite literally depends on the consumer being idiots and not seeing the mathematical disparity. That doesn't work in a game catered to nerds.
You give the consumer too much credit.
I'm disgusted that they actually have the chutzpah to put basic lands in these.
While some casual/noncommitted people definitely will buy these, I think they're just silly. For one, you're only really getting five game cards. For another, there is the dissuading price. If they were $1, I could see myself snapping them up in triplets, but that's unfeasible. I'm not sure why Wizards felt that these would be worth deploying; the cost of packaging basically stays the same regardless of the amount of cards, so why not just make regular boosters $3?
It's essentially impulse buying. People who would balk at a whole pack of cards for four dollars while they're out shopping might pick up one of these instead. It's a nice option for people who don't necessarily have a card shop nearby, or kids who are more likely to have less money and be attracted to a cheaper pack.
This is no different from candy bars and mints near the cash register; you could easily drive to a gas station and pick up a bigger one cheaper, but how likely are you go out of way to do so?
I dislike the 6 card not-likely-to-have-rare packs even more than I dislike the discontinuance of tournament packs.
I've mostly moved to buying singles exclusively anyway, but I will never buy a 6 card pack unless one of the big retailers has a nutty sale and they go for a dollar or less. Admittedly tho, that is far more likely than the corner magic store having a sale.
Someone on wotc forum posted that they hope they will be available in foreign retail outlets so ppl living overseas have better access to cards. I can appreciate that benefit of those packs, but otherwise i don't see a market for them where magic can be had from ANY other source.
However, this is seem to be a move to exploit the younger kid market, seeing as most older players either play at the store or are hyper aware of stuff or both.
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If they really will be more available than boosters, then the general idea behind them makes sense, but $2 is horrible. $1.25 MIGHT be a reasonable price, but even so, it's ridiculous. Especially when I can get boosters locally for $2.95
EDIT: I don't think it's 1/3 for mythic, it's 1/3 rare, which includes mythic, so 1/24 mythic.
"1 slot that has an equal chance of being rare/mythic, uncommon, or common" mythic and rare share a probability slot, i doubt the chances will be better than a standard pack. more likely, they will be worse.
The thing that really gets me is they say its a 6 card pack, but its actually a 5 card pack. I'm surprised they didn't count the tip card as one of the six..
Unfortunately I don't have much access to packs, and my local walmart only get fat packs in anymore, so i will probably buy some of these on impulse :/
However, this is seem to be a move to exploit the younger kid market, seeing as most older players either play at the store or are hyper aware of stuff or both.
I think you misunderstood the odds presented here.
You have an equal chance to get a uncommon, common, mythic/rare
The reason they lumped mythic/rare is because since you have a 1-3 chance of getting a rare and then a chance on top of that of being a mythic.
No way in hell would they make the chance of busting a mythic 1 in 3 since random mythic hunting people will forgo regular packs.
Anyways those getting all pissy about this are just griping for gripes sake. You don't have to buy them if you don't want them its irrelevant. If they said hey we are doing away with 15 card packs for these then you can cry about it.
I get my packs of gum really cheap since I buy large variety packs from costco. I don't get upset at the people that spend 1.25 a pack at a regular grocery store when I get about 4 times the amount of that for the same price.
The thing that really gets me is they say its a 6 card pack, but its actually a 5 card pack. I'm surprised they didn't count the tip card as one of the six..
No, it's 6 cards, not counting the rules insert:
- 1 basic land card
- 3 common cards
- 1 uncommon card
- 1 random card (common, uncommon, or rare / mythic)
Well apparently a basic land doesn't count as a card to the complainers. Never mind that for 75% of the people that buy these they might actually need basic lands.
These don't cater to the hardcore MTG fan at all and that's blatantly evident. That's why you can't even buy them at your local card shop unless they specifically request them.
Six-card boosters could open up some interesting variations on draft or sealed that people could play for fun. Super-Mini-Pack-War, anyone?
Those who are complaining in all likelihood weren't even going to buy these in the first place, so why the bother, you guys?
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:symur::symur::symur::symur::symur:
Several years ago, WotC apparently surveyed Magic players across the globe. They found that people liked turning things sideways, and hated LD. This is the result:
Anyways those getting all pissy about this are just griping for gripes sake. You don't have to buy them if you don't want them its irrelevant. If they said hey we are doing away with 15 card packs for these then you can cry about it.
Actually, I was under the assumption these were going to replace boosters at large stores. Currently none of the large stores in my area sell boosters any more (they got a bit of alara in, but havent have ANY since. So this is why I was assuming they had stopped selling them, to support these in the future.
That being said, it does suck if this is the only boosters that will be available in these stores.
And, no, a basic land should not count as a card in a 6 card booster... Its 6 friggin' cards for 2 dollars, with a 1 in 3 chance of getting a rare. and one of them is a basic??
I know there was already lots of moaning about basics in boosters, but in 6 card boosters?? Really?
If you need basics so badly, you shouldnt be spending 2 bux for 5 cards and a basic. you should hop on any large mtg site and buy 100-1000 bulk basics for 1 cent each. Or you should buy a theme deck. Boosters are to "boost" your deck. Basics are an integral part of the game, especially for new players, and certainly shouldn't be held as something to boost your deck, they should be readily available. If WotC really cared about new players with their sudden need to introduce basics in packs, they should be selling packs of basics at these stores for 1.99 each, not 5 cards and a stupid basic.
Here's to hoping the print run gets all messed up and there are 5-6 rares in a pack on a lot of these.
I'm going to pick up a boosterbox of these crappy 6 card packs, host my buddies mini-packwars Each player plays with 6 boosters, and drafts with basic lands that i supply. entry fee is just the price of the product, with prizes going the rest of the box to the winner and second place getting 3 packs
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If they are only available to stores such as walmart and such, that means you will have to buy a box worth from the store. idk how many comes in a box.. but have fun buying them for 2 bux each when you can buy a real box with packs for only a little over 2 bux each...
Well I am amazed that people regularly buy packs from stores like Wal-Mart then. Sure a newer player that only plays casual might do that. But if I am going to pay retail for a pack I'll buy it from my favorite local card shop to support a store owner that needs that sale.
I guess in the middle of nowhere random guy might live by 0 card shops and this sucks for him. But that's a small portion of the magic population and for that guy he can still buy them online or buy boxes online and save some major money.
Anyways I bet there was a demand for something like this from retailers like Wal-Mart or Target. They seem to be bending over backwards to make stores happy lately.
Its definitely an impulse item. Unfortunately for me, i am an impulse buyer. I dont go to walmart to buy magic cards, but if im there and they have packs i usually pick 1 or 2 up, now im gonna be forced to pick up 1 or 4 of these dumb things and with my luck, not even get a rare. thats my major beef with it, is it just seemed so unnecessary. I really wish wotc justified their decisions with hard facts, simply because they are dependant on their community of players, and thusly, i feel they should provide more on the reasoning side with that community. I know its to make money, and more of it, but it would be nice for once if a company just admitted to it, rather than acting like its the latest and greatest.
I see these as sick humor. ApocHydra art on a booster pack that has little to no chance in actually cracking open a booster pack. Adding the land to these is also a problem. If not counting the land, a person is only receiving 5 cards. That's .40 a card; not counting the tax. Were looking at 1.20 for 3 commons.
Let me do the math for a mythic (correct me if I'm wrong)
1/3 chance that the 6th card will be a Rare/Mythic
1/8 chance that a mythic replaces a rare
Making it a 4% chance for the card to be mythic. For every 25 of these boosters, 1 is mythic. For every $50 spent on these boosters, you should get 1 mythic rare. I don't even want to do the math when it comes to someone actually cracking open a SPECIFIC mythic rare.
-EDIT- Alright... I did the math. I couldn't help it. To crack open the ApocHydra, the percent chances are .4%.
well, this certainly is strange news. at least for me. I don't really know if i like this or not, but I can understand WotC is trying all kinds of things to try and make money again. They've taken away quite a good deal of stuff as of the past year or so, and we've gotten very little back as players.
I don't buy boosters anymore for the heck of it. I'll mainly draft, or just buy my singles outright. I stopped cracking random boxes of boosters after Onslaught came out.
my first set i bought a box of, was Invasion. I probably went through at least a case and a half between random boosters and boxes. Funny thing though...not once did i ever hit a Skizzik or Urza's Rage. so i doubt any % chances you are all expecting will really matter with these 6 card things.
Maybe the begin of a new draft format: 6-player-tables, each player receives 6 of these booster packs, and then left, right, left, right, left, right^^
After that, each player has 30 nonbasic cards, compared to a draft's usual 42.
In this economy I'm not surprised in the least that they'd try something like this. It's obviously more of an attempt to lure unsuspecting parents into buying something their kids can't really use at the checkout counter than anything else.
But DAMN...I remember when I could get a pack of Revised for $1.99...
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"...because without beer, things do not seem to go as well."
So, more than half the price for a booster pack for less than half the cards. And you can't draft with these.
The marketing strategy quite literally depends on the consumer being idiots and not seeing the mathematical disparity. That doesn't work in a game catered to nerds.
You give the consumer too much credit.
I'm disgusted that they actually have the chutzpah to put basic lands in these.
This is no different from candy bars and mints near the cash register; you could easily drive to a gas station and pick up a bigger one cheaper, but how likely are you go out of way to do so?
I've mostly moved to buying singles exclusively anyway, but I will never buy a 6 card pack unless one of the big retailers has a nutty sale and they go for a dollar or less. Admittedly tho, that is far more likely than the corner magic store having a sale.
Someone on wotc forum posted that they hope they will be available in foreign retail outlets so ppl living overseas have better access to cards. I can appreciate that benefit of those packs, but otherwise i don't see a market for them where magic can be had from ANY other source.
However, this is seem to be a move to exploit the younger kid market, seeing as most older players either play at the store or are hyper aware of stuff or both.
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EDIT: I don't think it's 1/3 for mythic, it's 1/3 rare, which includes mythic, so 1/24 mythic.
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Unfortunately I don't have much access to packs, and my local walmart only get fat packs in anymore, so i will probably buy some of these on impulse :/
I think you misunderstood the odds presented here.
You have an equal chance to get a uncommon, common, mythic/rare
The reason they lumped mythic/rare is because since you have a 1-3 chance of getting a rare and then a chance on top of that of being a mythic.
No way in hell would they make the chance of busting a mythic 1 in 3 since random mythic hunting people will forgo regular packs.
Anyways those getting all pissy about this are just griping for gripes sake. You don't have to buy them if you don't want them its irrelevant. If they said hey we are doing away with 15 card packs for these then you can cry about it.
I get my packs of gum really cheap since I buy large variety packs from costco. I don't get upset at the people that spend 1.25 a pack at a regular grocery store when I get about 4 times the amount of that for the same price.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
No, it's 6 cards, not counting the rules insert:
- 1 basic land card
- 3 common cards
- 1 uncommon card
- 1 random card (common, uncommon, or rare / mythic)
- Main Cube
- No Brains, All Feelings Cube
These don't cater to the hardcore MTG fan at all and that's blatantly evident. That's why you can't even buy them at your local card shop unless they specifically request them.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Those who are complaining in all likelihood weren't even going to buy these in the first place, so why the bother, you guys?
Several years ago, WotC apparently surveyed Magic players across the globe. They found that people liked turning things sideways, and hated LD. This is the result:
Actually, I was under the assumption these were going to replace boosters at large stores. Currently none of the large stores in my area sell boosters any more (they got a bit of alara in, but havent have ANY since. So this is why I was assuming they had stopped selling them, to support these in the future.
That being said, it does suck if this is the only boosters that will be available in these stores.
And, no, a basic land should not count as a card in a 6 card booster... Its 6 friggin' cards for 2 dollars, with a 1 in 3 chance of getting a rare. and one of them is a basic??
I know there was already lots of moaning about basics in boosters, but in 6 card boosters?? Really?
If you need basics so badly, you shouldnt be spending 2 bux for 5 cards and a basic. you should hop on any large mtg site and buy 100-1000 bulk basics for 1 cent each. Or you should buy a theme deck. Boosters are to "boost" your deck. Basics are an integral part of the game, especially for new players, and certainly shouldn't be held as something to boost your deck, they should be readily available. If WotC really cared about new players with their sudden need to introduce basics in packs, they should be selling packs of basics at these stores for 1.99 each, not 5 cards and a stupid basic.
Here's to hoping the print run gets all messed up and there are 5-6 rares in a pack on a lot of these.
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I guess in the middle of nowhere random guy might live by 0 card shops and this sucks for him. But that's a small portion of the magic population and for that guy he can still buy them online or buy boxes online and save some major money.
Anyways I bet there was a demand for something like this from retailers like Wal-Mart or Target. They seem to be bending over backwards to make stores happy lately.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Let me do the math for a mythic (correct me if I'm wrong)
1/3 chance that the 6th card will be a Rare/Mythic
1/8 chance that a mythic replaces a rare
Making it a 4% chance for the card to be mythic. For every 25 of these boosters, 1 is mythic. For every $50 spent on these boosters, you should get 1 mythic rare. I don't even want to do the math when it comes to someone actually cracking open a SPECIFIC mythic rare.
-EDIT- Alright... I did the math. I couldn't help it. To crack open the ApocHydra, the percent chances are .4%.
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I don't buy boosters anymore for the heck of it. I'll mainly draft, or just buy my singles outright. I stopped cracking random boxes of boosters after Onslaught came out.
my first set i bought a box of, was Invasion. I probably went through at least a case and a half between random boosters and boxes. Funny thing though...not once did i ever hit a Skizzik or Urza's Rage. so i doubt any % chances you are all expecting will really matter with these 6 card things.
After that, each player has 30 nonbasic cards, compared to a draft's usual 42.
But DAMN...I remember when I could get a pack of Revised for $1.99...