after a longer pause from magic, I was recently thinking about getting some boosters again. When looking at booster and booster box prices, I noticed that single boosters are cheaper than booster boxes (that is, 36x single boosters cost less than 1x booster box). This seems really wierd to me, I would have rather expected it to be the other way round due to quantity discount (or at most be equal). This got me suspicous:
Is booster mapping still possible?
Can boosters be scanned for their contents in some other way? Maybe by weighing them or using a magnetic sensor to find foils or something like that?
Basically, are there any ways to get information about the (likely) contents of a booster?
Because that is the only way I can explain to myself how these prices make sense. And I really don't want to buy boosters unless I'm certain I'm not getting screwed.
Thanks for your help.
PS: I got the prices from magiccardmarket.eu. E.g. 1,89euro per Kaladesh booster (= 68euro for 36) vs. 75euro for a booster box.
Booster mapping is no longer really possible, they've added enough randomness in the packs that would require huge amount of boxes.
Weighing for foils is still something brought up - I don't know anyone that has been called out on it, but the proof is in the scales. I would be careful about single boosters and just get the sealed box.
I really want to agree with Evaders99 here, and that's the consensus, but there seemed to be some very strange collation errors in Modern Masters 2017. I got 2 boxes, and there were 21 rares and 2 Mythics in common out of 24 packs per box. Maybe just a very strange coincidence, but I'm not the only one who saw boxes with very similar pulls. This is the only recent set that anyone has mentioned errors on that scale, though, normal expansions seem to be randomized well enough that mapping shouldn't be possible.
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Cards are game pieces, and should be treated as such, easily replaceable.
Cards are not money, investments, or a retirement fund, and should never have been treated as such.
Wizards made a mistake caving to speculators once, and we still pay for that mistake 2 decades later.
"Entitled:" the entire ad hominem fallacy condensed into a single word. It doesn't strengthen your argument to attack motivations, it just makes you look like you don't understand the argument.
Ok, so all of you agree that mapping is not possible, but you still recommend against buying single boosters online. Evaders mentioned weighing, and I guess what Mikes said is always possible (because the boosters in a box aren't independent of each other (afaik), you can be sure that your chances on mythic/foil cards in the rest of the boosters drop if you already pulled multiple).
BUT: Would you expect big sellers to do stuff like that? Or do I only need to be cautious when buying from private persons or small businesses?
Edit: The advantage of buying single boosters is of course not only the price (as mentioned in my opening post), but also that you are more flexible in the amount you want.
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
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after a longer pause from magic, I was recently thinking about getting some boosters again. When looking at booster and booster box prices, I noticed that single boosters are cheaper than booster boxes (that is, 36x single boosters cost less than 1x booster box). This seems really wierd to me, I would have rather expected it to be the other way round due to quantity discount (or at most be equal). This got me suspicous:
Is booster mapping still possible?
Can boosters be scanned for their contents in some other way? Maybe by weighing them or using a magnetic sensor to find foils or something like that?
Basically, are there any ways to get information about the (likely) contents of a booster?
Because that is the only way I can explain to myself how these prices make sense. And I really don't want to buy boosters unless I'm certain I'm not getting screwed.
Thanks for your help.
PS: I got the prices from magiccardmarket.eu. E.g. 1,89euro per Kaladesh booster (= 68euro for 36) vs. 75euro for a booster box.
Weighing for foils is still something brought up - I don't know anyone that has been called out on it, but the proof is in the scales. I would be careful about single boosters and just get the sealed box.
Cards are not money, investments, or a retirement fund, and should never have been treated as such.
Wizards made a mistake caving to speculators once, and we still pay for that mistake 2 decades later.
"Entitled:" the entire ad hominem fallacy condensed into a single word. It doesn't strengthen your argument to attack motivations, it just makes you look like you don't understand the argument.
BUT: Would you expect big sellers to do stuff like that? Or do I only need to be cautious when buying from private persons or small businesses?
Edit: The advantage of buying single boosters is of course not only the price (as mentioned in my opening post), but also that you are more flexible in the amount you want.
However, no matter what, you can never 100% control your employees and what they are doing (or you could, but nobody wants to live in such a world).
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Boosters outside of a sealed box are always unsafe , and its always possible someone sorted them out.
You either trust a particular seller or you do not (and a LGS you play each week in, you might trust, but unknown online seller? Not really).
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2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player